Gargoyles: Attack of The Moonstalkers
by TheGuyWhoLikesToWriteStuff
Summary: A boy's quest for vengeance against gargoyles after one killed his family when he was a child brings him to New York. This is where a gargoyle clan is well known and established. Recent reports in New York tell of people being killed in very animalistic ways and the gargoyles are suspected. But the boy stumbles upon the truth that they are fighting a pack of far worse beasts.
1. Chapter 1

One thousand years ago, superstition and the sword ruled.

It was a time of darkness. It was a world of fear. It was the age of Gargoyles.

Stone by day, warriors by night. We were betrayed by the humans we had sworn to protect.

Then we were frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years.

Now here in present day Manhattan, the spell has been broken and we live again.

Here in this new world we have resumed our duties as defenders of the night.

We are strong, we are brave, we are protecters, we are Gargoyles - Goliath

* * *

**January 3rd, 1998 Yelm, Washington **

It was in the middle of a dark, cold night when the four year old boy woke with a start. The thing that made him wake so suddenly was the equally as sudden rise in temperature he felt. On one side of his bed he felt the cold night air flowing in from his open window. On the other side, he felt a searing heat so hot it overtook the cool breeze from the window and left him drenched in his own sweat. The boy kicked his blanket off of him and looked towards his bedroom door. He saw through the small space between his floor and the bottom of his door that there was light flickering around, the source of which he was unable to tell. The boy slowly got out of his bed and stood up on his feet, though he wasn't really sure of how to proceed at this moment. Several thoughts were running through his head.

_What was going on? Why am I so hot? What is making that light? _He slowly walked across his room to his door. Then he reached out and grabbed the door handle.

"Ow!" The boy cried as he pulled his hand back.

His metal door handle was so hot that it slightly burned his hand. The boy held the wrist of the hand that was burned as he looked down at it and cried a little.

"Mommy! Daddy!" The boy called out at the top of his lungs.

But there was no response from his parents. Instead what he heard on the other side of the door was the sound of crackling. Then the boy started to smell something burning as smoke started to seep through the crack at the bottom of his door. The scared little boy not knowing what else to do huffed and puffed out several deep breaths before he grabbed the door handle, twisted it and flung the door open to reveal a blazing fire spreading through his house. The boy let out screams of terror as he gazed at the bright, crackling blaze that frightened him so.

"Daddy! Mommy! Please help me! Mommy, please! Daddy, come and find me! Help me please!" The boy called out into the flame filled house.

Instead of the voices of his parents, what he heard was the cries of his baby sister, Angel. The boy got a sense of urgency for his siters safety which forced him to walk out of his room and into the hot halls, fire completely surrounding him and tears flowing out of his eyes that were quickly dried up by the intense heat from the fire.

"Angel?! Angel, where are you?! Mommy can you hear me?! Can you hear Angel crying, Daddy?! Where are you all?!" The boy shouted.

But the only sounds he heard were the flames crackling, his sister's crying and his own. His crying was replaced by his coughing from the smoke getting sucked into his lungs. But this did not keep him from walking and stumbling through the parts of the house that still had floor to walk on. His traveling around the burning house took him to what he thought might be the living room. It was hard to tell since everything was engulfed in flames. But this is where the boy heard his sister's cries coming from. So he trudged on until he made it into the center of the open spaced room. What he saw when he got there made his heart sink.

Lying there on the floor were the lifeless bodies of his mother and father. The symbols of power and authority in his short, but up to this point, happy life. The only two people in the world who he thought as a boy were untouchable, unhurtable, the forces who could not be destroyed. But here they laid dead at his feet.

"Daddy? Mommy? Please get up," the boy pleaded.

But his parents' bodies didn't move a bit. He knew they wouldn't, but he couldn't help himself.

"Mommy, Daddy, get up! Both of you please, get up! No, don't lay down! You're not dead! You can't be dead! GET UP, MOMMY AND DADDY!"

At this point, the boy fell to his knees and lifted his head to stare up at the ceiling and let out a loud, ear shattering scream that slowly turned into sobbing as he then lowered his head, now staring at the floor. But then he stopped when his cries were overtaken by his sister's. The boy got back up to his feet and looked around for his baby sister.

"Angel? Angel, where are you?"

The boy got his answer when he saw that something wrapped in a blanket was moving around in his dead mother's arms. The boy started to move towards his mother's body and reached out for his sister. But all of a sudden, a small part of the ceiling behind him caved in and the burning debris smashed into the floor behind the boy. The floor shook hard from the impact of the falling debris, the force of which sent the boy falling off his feet and onto the front of his body. He started crying again, but he was cutt off by smoke getting into his mouth and down his throat, making him cough terribly. The boy got control of his coughing, only to have the section of roof off to his right start falling in. The boy rolled away as fast as he could to avoid any of the falling debris. He checked himself out to see if he was hurt at all. He was fine, except for feeling extremely overheated and having the urge to try and cough out what nasty stuff was in his throat and lungs. The boy heard his sister's cries continue and began crawling toward the spot where his dead parents and still living baby sister laid.

His crawling ended him up in between his parents, his dad on his left and his mom on his right. He stared at them both, the horrible truth still sinking in as absolute horror filled his eyes. The cries of his sister brought the boy back to reality as he tried to shake all the bad thoughts out of his head before he started crawling towards his mother's body. Once he got there he went to work at unwrapping his mom's arms from around his sister and then moving them completely out of his way. Then the boy reached for his sister and pulled her into his arms. Once his sister was wrapped tightly in his grasp, the boy stood back up on his feet. He then looked down at his darling baby sister, the only family he had left as she cried in his arms.

"Please don't cry, Angel. We'll make it out of here, you'll see. And when we do, I'll take care of you as good as Mommy and Daddy did. I love you, Angel," the boy said to his sister.

But as he tried rubbing her back, he felt something on his fingers that was on his sister's blanket. It was some kind of very thick liquid-like stuff...and it was red. It was the blood of his mother. He looked down at his body and realized he was now covered in blood from crawling before and holding his sister up to him. He looked down at the floor and saw he was standing in a puddle of his parents' blood. A faint feeling came over the boy and almost made him fall and drop his sister. Luckily he was able to catch himself, after which he lightly jogged past the bodies of his parents. He then turned around, jogging a few steps back before it turn into a slow walk as he looked in horror at the sight of his parents bodies laying surrounded in their own blood. Then he saw the marks on their bodies.

Slash and stab marks to be more precised. They had not died because of the fire, they were attacked. The boy soon realized this and felt even more destress and unsafe then he did before. He turned away from his parents' bodies, but soon wished he hand't. Because now, he what he saw staring back at him from the otherside of a bunch of flames at the end of the room was a monsterous creature. It was hard to make out a lot of physical details about the creature, just that it was very big, almost as big as his father was and that it had red glowing eyes and great big bat-like wings. Then the boy thought he saw a tail sticking out from behind the monster. It was truly a sight of terror that filled the boy with fear.

_This monster killed my mommy and daddy, _the boy realized. His heart seemed to jump into his throat when he saw the monster started walking through the flames and towards him. The boy didn't know what to do. He was in a house surrounded by fire that was burning it down, his parents laid behind him lifeless in a pool of blood and now the monster who killed them and more than likely started the fire was walking towards him while he held his baby sister in his arms, probably to do to them what it did to his parents. It was more than any four year old boy could, or should have to take. The boy shivered uncontrolably as the monster finally made it past the flames and was standing inches in front of him. He was still unable to make out a whole lot of details because his eyes weren't working right. All he could see was what he did before, just that this monster had a body like that of the devil himself.

Still shivering and holding his sister close to him as possible, the boy looked away from the monster, shut his eyes and started lowering himself down as if trying to hide himself from the monster. He didn't stop until he was almost sitting on the floor. He opened one eye and saw the monster had gotten even closer to him and was staring down at him with those red eyes. The boy started to cry and then scream when he saw the monster reaching its hand with sharp claws at the end down for him. He sat letting out his loud screams while he waited for the monster to grab him. But instead there was the sound of wood breaking like it was being forced to peices by some outside force.

"Hello, is somebody in there?!" a voice called from where the front door was located.

Then more sounds of wood being broken down followed. The boy looked to the front door and saw it being torn down by people outside the house. He saw behind them what looked like a red flashing light. He then looked to see the monster hurry away from him and smash through a window to escape.

"Is somebody in there?! This is the fire department. We're here to help you. Are you in there?" asked the firefighter.

"HELP ME!" the boy screamed as loud as he could.

"There's someone in there. I think it's a kid."

"Let's get in there!"

Then several firefighters made their way into the house.

"There he is," one of the firefighters said as he pointed to the boy.

The men walked up to the boy and reached down to get him back on his feet. But then they stopped when one of them pointed and said, "He's got a baby in his arms."

Then another one said to the boy, "We need you to hand us the baby."

But the boy held his baby sister close to him, refusing to give her up.

"We're not going to hurt the baby. We want to help both of you. We'll make sure you get the baby back. But for right now, we need you to hand one of us the baby and come with us. Please."

The boy looked up at the firefighters and then at his baby sister. His parents always told him that firefighters and policemen were always there to help people and only wanted to do what was good. The boy relunctantly held out his sister for the firefighter to take and then let the others get him back to his feet and lead him out of the burning house. He was escorted to the back of an ambulance where a medic was waiting with an oxygen mask.

"Put this on, it will help you breath better," the medic told the boy.

He did as the man said and instantly felt the change in his air quality. He saw out of the corner of his eyes his still burning house fall in on itself. The sight made him tremble with sadness and sorrow. One of the firefighters from before walked up to the boy.

"This ambulance is gonna take you to the hospital and get you all fixed up, then they'll figure out what the best thing for you will be after that."

"What about Angel?"

"Angel?"

"My baby sister!"

"You mean the baby that was in your arms?"

"Yes."

"She's going to the hospital too, except in another ambulance. She's currently recieving oxygen to help with her breathing, same as you. She'll be alright, don't worry. And the two of you will be reunited soon, I promise."

The firefighter noticed that the boy's pajamas were soaked in blood just like the baby's blanket was.

"Who's blood is that on your clothes, kid? Where did it come from?"

"It's... It's...my parents'."

The boy's eyes started to fill with tears.

"Your parents?"

"Yes, they're dead and now I'm alone!"

The boy began to bust out crying.

"Calm down, kid, calm down. What's your name?"

"E-e-Estevan...Martinez."

"Estevan, how did your parents' blood get all over you?"

"I had to pull my baby sister out of my mommy's arms."

The firefighter looked down at the boy identified as Estevan with sorrow and pity. _No kid should ever have to go through something like that, _he thought to himself.

"I'm very sorry for you, Estevan. But you were very brave walking through that burning house and rescuing your little sister. You're strong, Estevan. I hope you always remember that. Don't worry, you'll soon see your sister again. You and her just need to be apart for a little while to get taken care of and made healthy again, okay?"

Estevan nodded in response.

"Alright, good job still being a tough and strong young man. You need to get in the back of the ambulance with the man who gave you that mask you're holding in your hands, do you understand?"

Again Estevan nodded before making his way into the back of the ambulance with some help from the medic, while the firefighter walked of with one of his co workers. After the doors to the back of the ambulance shut and it started driving away from the tragic scene, Estevan Martinez was left to wonder what his life woul be like after this and what the future had in store for him.

* * *

**Well here it is the first chapter in what I hope will be looked at as being a really good story by you the public this story was written for. One important thing I wanna point out before we go any further is that this story will follow the continuity set by Season 3. I now most people don't consider it canon, even by Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman, instead opting for the continuity set by the comic books. But you see, I haven't read the comics yet (but I REALLY want to), so all I know about the comics is the little stuff I read online, including that Broadway and Angela had three kids, which I plan to incorporate into this story. But yeah, other then that, I only have to go on is the third season to go on and honestly, I don't think it's as god-awful as fans make it out to be. I do agree it's inferior to the pure awesomeness of the first two seasons, but I still think it's a decent season. Please remember to leave a review giving your honest opinion on the story thus far. I know you only have the first chapter to go on for right now, but just leave me your first impressions on it. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the animated show that is Gargoyles. It belongs to Disney and Greg Weisman **

**Voice actor casting call. Aside from the characters that were actually from the show, these are the voices I here when it comes to my original characters. At least the ones that will play major parts in the story. **

**Keith David as Goliath**

**Liam O'Brian as Estevan Martinez**

**Salli Richardson as Elisa Maza**

**Briggite Bako as Angela**

**Jeff Bennet as Brooklyn**

**Ed Asner as Hudspm**

**Bill Faggerbakke as Broadway**

**Thom Adcox-Hernandez as Lexington**

**Johnathan Frakes as David Xanatos**

**Frank Welker as Bronx**

**Gene Simmons as Charlie Luther**

**Joey King as Isabella**

**John Hutcherson as Robbie**


	2. Chapter 2

**15 Years Later **

"Attention, passengers, this is your attendant speaking, we are making our final approach to Queens, New York. Please return to your seats now and refasten your seat belts. We will be landing shortly, thank you."

The passengers on the plane that were in their seats (which was most of them) fastened their seat belts, the few that were up quickly returned to their seats and did the same. One passenger however had not left his seat since the plane took off, didn't even take off his seat belt. This passenger was one, Estevan Martinez. He spent the flight looking out his plane window, staring down beyond the clouds, hoping to see the city where he planned to carry out his intentions. He dreamnt of getting revenge for his family so long that now that the moment is the closet it's ever been, he could barely stand it. He had waited for fifteen years for his vengance. _Now the time to face my destiny and avenge my parents is that much closer, _Estevan thought to himself.

The plane touched down at the airport in Queens called LaGuardia where Estevan departed the plane and retrieved his one and only bag which contained only one extra pair of shoes and a few peices of clothing along with a tooth brush and other items for hygiene. Estevan's travels across the country over the last eleven years had taught him how to pack light. Once he had his bag, Estevan stepped outside the airport and flagged down a taxi.

"Were to, pal?" asked the cabby as Estevan got in the back seat.

"Take me to the closest motel in Manhattan," Estevan responded.

"You got it."

And with that, the driver moved his taxi out of the area of the airport and deep into the city that never sleeps. Neither the cabby, or Estevan said a single word to each other during the duration of the drive. Instead, the cabby kept his full attention on the road, trying to get his quiet passenger where he asked to go, while Estevan himself stared out at the big city wondering if the creatures he was looking for were there, while also reflecting on all that had happened to him in his life. When he was four years old, his parents were killed by a monster who also set his family's house on fire, burning it down to the ground. Only Estevan and his at the time two year old sister Angel had managed to survive. Estevan himself had actually been the one to free his sister from the dead arms of their dead mother, or so he remembered. The rest of the night was mostly a blur to him. The only other thing he remembered was actually coming across the monster and it walking up to him, reaching down its mean looking hand to grab him, staring down at him the entire time with those glowing red eyes. He was rescued from the burning house by firefighters before anything happened with the monster, who fled the scene.

After he and his sister were taken care of at a hospital, they were sent to live in an orphanage where Estevan lived for four years. When he was eight he found out from something he heard on TV. It was that living creatures similar in nature to the monster he saw the night of his parents' death actually exsisted in the modern world and in New York no less. These...were the Garogoyles. After he heard this, Estevan was one hundred percent, completely, absolutely positive for sure that the monster that killed his mother and father was in fact a gargoyle. Knowing the partial identity of his parents' murderer and knowing a location he could possibly find one, or more of these winged freaks (preferably the one who killed his family) invoked a burning desire in Estevan to go out and actually try and find these gargoyles and take them out as penance for the tragedy that befell his family at the hands of one of there kind. The news on TV was all he had to go on, but he was in such a fragile state that it was all he needed.

So he snuck out of the orphanage and ran away under the protection of the nighttime darkness. He left his sister, Angel behind, not wanting her to suffer the same greif and near insanity he was going through. She was too young at the time of the insident that night in the fire to retain some kind of mental scars, or lust for justice and revenge. Now living a life on the road, with a mission on his mind, Estevan from the first day did several small under the radar jobs to pay for food, drink, clothing and transportation across the country, where he also enrolled in several combat, hunting and stealth training classes to prepare for the moment when he would put it all to use against the gargoyle scum hiding in New York. He learned hand to hand combat, how to shoot firearms and how to weild melee weapons. As his cross country journeys went on, he asked around for any information someone might have on Gargoyles. He found out almost nothing except that at one point, there were gargoyles all over the world and that the clan in Manhattan is believe to be the last of their kind. Other then that, no weaknesses, no idea exactly where in Manhattan the clan lived, no major moments in history involving gargoyles, nothing. But that didn't keep Estevan from pursuing his goal of revenge. He just kept going on, doing grunt work for petty pay and fighting lessons, leagal and illegal. And that entire life on the road doing all those jobs, taking all those combat classes were all about to pay off.

The driver pulled the taxi up to a old, rundown looking building.

"You did say the nearest motel building, right?" asked the cabby.

"Yes, I did," said Estevan.

"I could look for a nicer looking place if you want," the driver offered.

"No, that's okay. This place will do just fine," Estevan replied.

"Alright, that'll be..."

Estevan handed the cab driver a few bills before saying, "Keep the change," and then getting out of the taxi.

"Hey..." the cabby started to say.

But his words got stuck in his throat and his eyes went wide with surprise when he counted the amount of money Estevan had given him.

"You got it, man. You have a nice day! WOO!"

And with that, the taxi sped away with the cab driver cheering. Estevan looked the building up and down, from left to right. _Yes this place will do just fine. Of course any place will do, just so long as I have a place to come back to from a good night's hunt, _Estevan thought to himself. He walked into the building and up to the front desk. The clerk looked up from the newspaper he was reading to stare at Estevan.

"If you're here for another rodent inspection, the last guy was just here four days ago. You think you people could give me a break? I mean, it's not like people actually check in here, or something. So back the hell..."

"I wanna a room."

The clerk's jaw nearly dropped down onto his desk.

"Y-y-you want to rent a room? Here?!"

"Yes."

"So...you actually wanna check into a room h-here?"

"Yes and I would like it if you checked me in now so I can pay you whatever I have to for a room, give me a key to said room and stop asking me the same question repeadetly!"

The clerk snapped himself out of his moment of shock when Estevan spat out his impatient words at him.

"Of coure, sir. I-I apologize. Uh, how long will you be staying with us?"

"Make it a long extended stay."

The clerk looked at him in shock again.

"You want to be here for an extended stay? You must be new around here. Very well. Will you be paying with cash, check, or credit card?"

Estevan pulled out a fist full of dollars.

"How much will it cost?"

"Um...you just give me all those bills in your hand and you can stay here as long as you want."

Estevan gave a 'whatever' shrug and put his money on the desk. The clerk pulled a key off the wall and than handed it to Estevan.

"Room three, second floor. I hope you enjoy your stay with us."

"If I have accomplished my ultimate goal, my stay here will have been worth something. I guess then you would be able to say I enjoyed it."

So then Estevan walked up to the second floor to his room. He saw several doors with numbers over them. Number three was over the second door on his left. As he walked up to the door to his room, he saw the doors to rooms one and two were open slightly, allowing him to see as he passed that they had no floor. Both seemed to have emploded on themselves. No wonder he had gotten room three. He slipped the key into the lock. While it did fit, the lock itself did stick a little, so Estevan did have to fiddle with it for a little. When he opened the door, a foul smell came wooshing out of the room beyond, hitting him almost like a rock to the head, or in this case, the senses, especially smell. But Estevan was undetered. He wouldn't be spending much time in this room anyways, especially if everything goes according to his plan.

The room was a very small one. So small in fact, that it was almost a closet. It was just big enough to fit in a lumpy old matress with a blanket on it and a small TV on top of a wooden dresser. Estevan saw that there was a small, dusty window on the other end of the room. Estevan dropped his bag on the bed and walked over to the window. He wiped away the dust and looked out at The Big Apple. It was extremely busy, car traffic jammed back as far as the eye could see, the sidewalks full of people walking around like they had no idea where they were going, whole mobs of people using the cross walk at once. Just the kind of thing you'd expect to see in a big city with a reputation like New York's. What the average person probably wouldn't expect to find was a gargoyle flying over this busy city under the camaflouge of the night's natural darkness.

But this was what Estevan was looking for and hoping to meet in mortal combat. It is strange Estevan admitted to himself to come to New York looking for a monster he came across fifteen years ago in Washington on the other side of the country no less. But again, this was the only lead he had and because this city had become so well known for its gargoyles while other parts of the world were not known for such things, there was the slightest possibility that he might come across the one that killed his parents. But how would he be able to tell which one it was when he came across one, or more gargoyles? He didn't get a good enough look at the gargoyle that night to make out any details that may stand out from the typical gargoyle. Estevan thought long and hard about it until he decided that he'd just have to kill as many gargoyles he could if and when their paths crossed. Better safe then sorry.

Besides, the gargoyle killed his parents and would've done the same to him and his sister had it gotten the chance. One of Estevan's favorite quotes from The Holy Bible was 'an eye for an eye'. The gargoyle essentailly tried to take down his whole family, so he would do no less than that. But what if he was successful in killing all the gargoyles in New York and moved on to another city in another state and saw gargoyles there? What then? If he did come across another gargoyle in another part of the world it would be just as likely that it was that gargoyle who killed his mother and father. Going on the logic of a man who was dirven half insane by all the stuff that he had gone through the past fifteen years, he decided he would kill every gargoyle he found, in any part of the world...just to be sure. But for now, it was time to focus on the gargoyles who without a shadow of a doubt were living amongst the masses here in Manhattan.

One of the few things Estevan had going for him on his hunt was that should he be discovered and his plan found out, at least two thirds of New York would be behind him. Estevan knew from reading on the front page of the clerk's newspaper and his own research before traveling to The City That Never Sleeps that lately there had been several murders in and around the Central Park area. These murders were so animalistic in nature and seemed so intentional that many people point to the gargoyle clan that back in 1997 had finally been excepted as part of the city of New York after saving hundreds of innocent people from a train crash. This very same clan had become suspect number one in many people's books. The vast majority is always quick to judge the strange and different ones, something that could work to Estevan's advantage should any outsiders find out about his plan.

As encouraging as all this sounded, there were a few major things going against him and his plan. One of those things was proper weaponry for the mission. He was unable to bring any kind of weapons with him on the plane, so he would have to find the right weapons for the job, or at least very good substitutes somewhere in Manhattan. The other thing going against him was although he was in the right city to look for the gargoyles, he had no idea where in the city to find the gargoyles, where they lived, or often visited. They lived there for all those years, encountered several people and in that time nobody figured out where they lived. The closest lead turned out to be the Eyrie Building, a skyscraper with a medieval castle reconstructed brick for brick on top of it. This building served as both the home and headquarters of billion air, David Xanatos. The lead turned out to be false though as the building was searched twice no trace of anykind was found of the gargoyles.

This may end up being just as much of a good thing for Estevan as it was a bad thing, because even if it turned out that the gargoyles were hiding in the Eyrie Building, it was still a hige skyscraper that was probably guarded like the frotress. The dollar man himself, Xanatos certainly had the money to toss around to afford to have his home guarded like a frotress. Still, with Estevan's stealth skills he's aquired over the years alongside his weapons and hand to hand skills, he probably could break into the building. But the fact that he didn't have to was a big weight off his back.

So while this was a now unreliable lead, he did have another one that could prove to be good. He intended to find and follow a NYPD detective who was a very well known and very vocal supporter of the gargoyles during the anti-gargoyle movement that gave birth to The Quarrymen (a sort of gargoyle KKK if you will) in 1997 and has recently become one again, defending them against the people who suspect that the gargoyles murdered the people in Central Park in the present. Plus in all the photos Estevan cut out along with newspaper articles about the gargoyles and in what little TV news clips he had having to do with the gargoyles, she is usually one of the cops at the scene. She showed up more then any other cop when it came to gargoyle related stories and cases. All of this convinced Estevan that this detective might very well be aquainted with the clan of beasts and decided the best way to find out would be to trail her and see where if it led to the gargoyles. He would have to buy his weapons and supply first of course, but then he would be on her trail like a lion stalking a deer. This detective's name was...Elisa Maza.

* * *

**Now we're starting to get down to the nitty-gritty. You know, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I should've put that intro by Goliath in the opening chapter since the story so far isn't really about the gargoyles, but my OC's pursuit of them. I just really liked the season 2 opening monologue and wanted to do kind of my own spin on it. Having said that, I hope you all have been enjoying the story so far and are curious to see where it will go. If you find anything dissatisfying with how I've been writing, like maybe to much padding, or exposition, or something like that, don't be afraid to tell me. I can take it. Also, if you see any misspelled words, or words that sound the same, but are spelled different (i.e. No and Know), please let me know right away so I can fix it. Yeah, reviews are welcome here after reading. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gargoyles, it belongs to Greg Weisman and Disney.**


	3. Chapter 3

"This is all I can give you I'm afraid. I wish I could give you more. You're one of the hardest workers I've ever seen, son," said the man in charge of the rock quarry as he gave Estevan the money he earned working there.

"Well, I guess you can say I've sort of been working hard my entire life," Estevan responded as he counted his money.

"Well you just keep on working hard and it'll pay off for you very soon."

"That's what I'm counting on."

"I hope you have a good rest of the day. Take care of yourself, son," the man in charge said.

"You do the same," Estevan replied before the two shook hands and walked away from each other.

"Three hundred and fifty six dollars. It'll just have to be enough, that's all," Estevan said to himself.

Today was the day that Estevan was going to track down the police station where Elisa Maza worked and then he would follow her hopefully to the lair of the gargoyles. But first he had to get some extra money. He had saved up a lot of money before he made his final approach to Manhattan, feeling the need to do so to afford the weapons and other supplies he knew he would need if he was planning on going up against a whole clan of gargoyles. He however felt he needed to get some extra money to try and get a car to drive around the city, not wanting to spend any of his weapon money. It already cost him a small fortune to pay for his flight, the cab and the motel room he currently called home. So in the long run, this was probably a good idea to do this rock quarry job to earn a little more dough, just to be safe.

He had gotten up around five in the morning so that he may have the whole day to do everything he had to get done. It took Estevan three hours to find the quarry job and get himself hired for the day and it had taken five more to do the job itself. Now Estevan was making his way back to his city. As he walked alongside the main road, he saw a man stepping out of a old and battered looking truck that was parked on the side of the road, while his family waited for him in the car parked in front of the truck. This grabbed Estevan's interest and walked over to check out what was going on. It didn't take him long to see the for sale sign the man had just placed on the front of the wind shield.

"Exscuse me, sir," Estevan called.

The man stopped and turned to look at Estevan.

"I see that you're selling this truck," Estevan went on.

"Yes indeed. Are you interested in buying?" the man asked.

"How much is it?" Estevan inquired.

"Well I know it ain't much to look at. But it will take ya where you need to go. So I will go to say oh...three hundred dollars," said the seller.

Estevan shrugged his shoulders before pulling out the three hundred and handing it over to the seller.

"So, do I have to sign some kind of papers, or something?" asked Estevan.

"Nah, just take it, you already paid me. That's good enough for me," the seller replied as he handed Estevan the key to the truck.

"Shouldn't I have it registered, or something?" Estevan inquired further.

"Why? I didn't," said the seller before he got in the car with his family and they took off.

This left Estevan to stand there in puzzlement. But then he shook it off. He now had a vehicle to drive around from place to place as needed. Estevan put the key in the ignition and started up the engine and started driving back to the city. The truck's wear and tear paint job stuck out in a crowd, but it was duable since he could stay three, or four cars behind Detective Maza. The man who sold him the truck was right about how good it ran. The engine purred like a kitten and the power steering was top notch. Now it was time to get the weapons he would need for his showdown with the winged meanace. He drove all around town looking for the black market. What his travels got him were several gas grenades, a net launcher, a hook and rope gun for climbing, some night vision binoculars and a duffle bag to put them in. Estevan last stop was a gun shop where he picked up a hunting rifle. He showed the clerk a phony gun license and flashed the cash to complete the purchase. While Estevan probably could've gotten some sort of fancy assault rifle from the black market, he felt that the nature of the hunting rifle fit his plan, which was to 'hunt' down the gargoyles.

Now it was time to hunt down the police station where Elisa Maza worked. Estevan had managed to map himself out where all the police stations in Manhattan were. Now it was just the matter of finding the right one. He followed the map to two police stations, neither of which had Elisa Maza working there. For the third station in his search, Estevan went to the closest station to the one he just went to. This third station turned out to be part of a whole city center built under a giant clock tower. I'm almost completely sure that this is it this time, Estevan thought as he parked his truck next to a sidewalk parking meter. Then Estevan got out of his truck, put some coins in the meter and then walked across the street and into the police station. The woman at the front desk looked up at Estevan as he approached her, little to no interest in her eyes abd in her face.

"How may I help you?" the woman asked.

"Do you have a detective named Elisa Maza working here?"

"Hold on and let me see."

The woman scanned through her computer, looking at the names of people who worked at the station.

"Yes, she works here. But she's not in right now. She's in the middle of a case," the woman reported.

The determination in Estevan was rose higher then it was before once he heard that he had found the right place.

"Thank you," Estevan said before he turned to leave.

"Should I tell her you dropped by?" the woman asked.

"No thanks, that wont be neccessary," said Estevan just as he walked out the door.

Estevan stopped just outside the station and checked his watch. It was 3:59 pm. Estevan had figured it would be close to evening when he had to start putting his plan into the second phase since all or most of the gargoyle sightings have occured at night. Estevan crossed the street, put more change in the parking meter, then got back in his truck and just sat there. He planned on waiting there until Elisa Maza came back to the station and then when she comes out again, follow her, hoping she will lead to Estevan to the gargoyles. She has to, Estevan had come to far for him to be wrong. He just had to be right about Maza's connection to the gargoyles, he just had to be. And he was determined to porve that he was.

He knew what his prize would be if he was. He sat in his truck for about a half hour waiting for his target to show up. It was at this moment when he realized he was very hungry. He couldn't even remember the last time he ate anything at all. Now it was catching up with him. Estevan checked the money he had left. There was about two thousand dollars left. More then enough for Estevan to get himself something to eat. At first he was thinking of whether or not to try and pick up an extra weapon for the upcoming fight, but his stomach was growling too much to listen. Now he was trying to decide what he was going to eat. As luck would have it, a hot dog vender was pushing his cart by as that moment when his hunger was at its peak. Very few times has Estevan ever gotten to enjoy the common foods like hamburgers or pizza.

No, eversince he hit the road, he's had to live off the tiniest of morsels he could get his hands on. This was one of those times where Estevan decided to treat himself to one of America's greatest treats. He got out of his truck and ran over to the food cart, purchased a hot dog and then went back to his truck where he proceeded to eat. He didn't always get to eat the better foods of life, but when he did, it was always like having an out of body experince. As he sat there eating his treat, Estevan began to wonder if his life would've been full of great foods like this one had he not run away from the orphanage as a kid. This was followed by several more what if thoughts. The biggest of these thoughts dwelled on his little sister, Angel, who he left behind at the orphanage.

This is the one thing through all his hardships over the years that he deeply regreted the most. How could he have just left her there even after they survived a fire and an encounter with a gargoyle together? Where was she at that moment? Was she ever adopted? Did she even remember that she had a brother? And if so, did she hate him for basically abandoning her? How would she have turned out if Estevan hadn't left her? How would he have turned out himself? Did he do the right thing in leaving? Has his life long pursuit of bitter vengance all been for not and kept him from living an otherwise good life growing up in a stable home and family with his sister by his side? _No, no, I refuse to let myself think like that, _Estevan thought.

No, this was the right path to take. I'm avenging my dead parents who fell to the claws of one of those winged, glowing eye freaks the world has accepted called gargoyles. You may hate and resent me now, Angel. But you'll soon see. The gargoyles will all soon be dead and our family avenged. And when it's all finally over...then...maybe the, we can finally be together as a family again. I hope you will forgive me one day and let our reunion happen. But what if she didn't? What would Estevan do with the rest of his lfe? There's no garuntee he'll come across other gargoyles in his life once this job was done, just like there was not garuntee his sister would forgive him or of him even finding his sister. So then what? Estevan pondered these question on and on in his head, trying to find the answers. But then suddenly he was snapped out of his train of thought when he realized he had lost track of time.

He checked his watch, it was 5:04 pm and the sun was sinking lower as the sky started to darken. Estevan turned his attention over to the station and saw that a red car had parked out in front of it. Estevan stared very intently when he saw the driver coming out of the car. His feelings about who it was turned out to be justified when he saw her, the detective he was looking for, one Elisa Maza was the driver of the red car. It was perfect. He had finally found the station where Detective Maza worked, as well as Detective Maza herself. Plus he had a fully fueled vehicle to track her in and a bunch of weapons reeady to use on the monsters he hoped Maza would lead him to. Now all he had to do was wait for her to come back out, get in her car and drive off. Then phase two of Estevan's plan would begin, finding the gargoyles by following the detective. Then if this worked, the third and final phase of his plan could begin.

Judging by where Maza parked her car, she wouldn't be staying too long. She was probably out working a case or something and was just signing out for the day. Estevan turned out to be right, as eleven minutes later, Maza came back out and hopped in her car and drove off. Estevan started up his truck and drove after her, keeping his distance though so he wouldn't alert the detective to his presence. As he had planned he kept four cars in between them so as not to be too noticable to Maza. Estevan didn't come this far to slip up now. At last, eleven years of hard knocks on the road seemed almost worth it. But he mustn't get ahead of himself. As Estevan drove on, following Maza's car, he took notice of the fact that they were now drving along side Central Park, the place where the murders were taking place. He took the quick glance over at the park. Several armed officers were guarding the outside of the park. Estevan could also see several lights flashing around from inside the park being held by more cops. Obviously the police department was taking the murders very seriously. Then why hadn't they gotten full confirmation that the gargoyles are in fact the ones responsible? This question was in Estevan's head, but he didn't really care. He just wanted to accomplish his goal of wiping the gargoyles out.

So he put his full attention back on tracking Elisa Maza. He saw her pull into the samll parking area for some sort of pawn, or antique shop. _No one could possibly hide a whole clan of gargoyles in a little shop like that can they?_ Estevan wondered this, asking the question in his head. It certainly didn't look like the kind of building that could hold huge, bat winged freaks and keep them away from private eyes. But then again, Estevan has helped hide people in several different locations nobody would expect people could hide. With this knowledge in mind, Estevan was unsure of how to proceed. He thought long and hard about it. His thoughts eventually fell on the idea of walking in and posing as a customer so that he may get a lay on the land. Estevan pulled up in front of the shop and parked his truck. He was just starting to get out of his truck when he stopped and quickly grabbed a gas grenade in case this was the place and then he stuffed in his pocket before walking into the shop.

He looked in and saw several shelves stacked with all kinds of old antiques. For such a small place, the shelf to shelf layout almost made it seem like someone could get lost in there. While everything in the store was nice to look at, Estevan wasn't here on a pleasure trip. He walked further into the store until he was next to the front counter and looked around. To his right again was the counter and to his left was shelf after shelf of all kinds of random stuff. But where was Elisa Maza? Did she get herself lost in the shelves stacked with antiques, or did she slip into the back room that all stores have? He looked and saw that there wasn't anyone at the front counter and he saw the door behind it was slightly open.

Could the back room of a small antique store be a sufficient place to hide gargoyles? So many questions and not a lot of time to answer them. If Estevan was gonna look in the back, it would have to be now while nobody was around. He sucked in a deep breath and let it back out before he reached into his pocket for the gas grenade he had and then started for the counter. Then the door started opening, the person coming out being...Elisa Maza. Estevan quickly backed up and took refuge amongst the shelves. He then went into the act of looking at the stuff on the shelves. He stole a quick glance over at the counter and saw that an older looking man had followed Elisa out of the back room. While he may be old and have very long hair and a scruffy beard, he looked very imposing as he stood at nearly 6 ft. 3.

"Well, yeah it was great seeing you again, Charlie. Sorry I have to cut this visit short. But I'm meeting some important people about a case. I will try to make the next visit longer, but for now I gotta go. I'm glad to see your doing good for yourself and the shop looks great," Elisa said as she started walking towards the door.

"Yeah, it does look great. It'd look even better if it had customers in it," Charlie responded.

"Well don't feel down and out just yet. It looks like you got at least one interested party scanning among the shelves," said Elisa before she stepped out of the store.

_Did she mean me? _Estevan's thoughts wondered. Then his thoughts told him that he needed to hurry on out and catch up with the detective. He was on his way out when he saw someone else was in the shop among the shelves. Someone he hadn't noticed before. It was a teenage boy who looked to be about Estevan's age. Right away Estevan didn't trust him, mostly because of the clothes he was wearing, a sort of stereotypical street thug look. Deep down Estevan knew it was wrong to judge someone like that. But he's come across several street thugs during his life, many of which if not all tried to either cripple him or out right kill him. And in one way or another, they all seemed to look like this kid Estevan was looking at right now. He became even more alarmed when it seemed like he was pulling something out from under his clothing.

_A gun, _Estevan thought with alarm as he started making a beeline towards the boy to try and stop him. But he ended up being the one that needed to stop when he saw that the boy was pulling out some kind of feather duster and started dusting the stuff on the shelves. Estevan took a few quick breaths of relief. He felt so foolish and ashamed. He had been on the move alone for so long that he had forgotten how to trust people, no matter how they looked. He always avoided making attachments to people feeling it would only slow him down and now it seemed like it made him very paranoid and insecure whenever there was any other human being around him.

"You thought he was going to do something bad like hold up the store, didn't you?"

Estevan was startled as he looked around for the person who just spoke. He spotted a young girl who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen looking up at him with curiosity.

"Come on, tell me. Did you think my brother was gonna rob the store?"

Estevan didn't really know how to answer her question. He was focusing more on his surprise that this girl managed to sneak up on him like she did. But he quickly got a hold of himself and answered the girl's question.

"Yes, I admit I thought he was going to do something along those lines."

"Why?"

"Well...uh...I- um..."

"Is it because of the way he looks? The way he dresses?"

"Uh...yeah," Estevan admitted.

"That seems kind of shallow, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I know it sounds bad. But I've lived a hard life on the road and every time I've seen a person that looks like your brother does, he's always tried to..."

"But my brother's not one of those people you met! He couldn't be. For the longest time we lived in Europe. We came here not that long ago looking for a better life. The store owner here hired us, gave us good paying jobs along with several other teenagers that before were out on the streets for a living. So you should never judge someone just because the majority of people that grouped together in some kind of category are evil people."

Estevan thought about the girl's somewhat corny, yet very true words. Then Estevan did something he's rarely ever done in his life. He smiled at the young girl, a very bright, respectful and kind smile.

"What's your name, girl?" Estevan asked.

"Isabella," the girl replied.

"Well, Isabella, you speak very true words. Words for all to live by. Thank you for speaking them to me. I needed to hear them," Estevan said.

Isabella returned Estevan's smile before she walked off to do some work in the store. _Several teenagers? _Estevan looked around and the only two he saw were Isabella and her older brother. _Must be different shifts, _Estevan figured. He was heading for the door when the store owner's voice rang out.

"No purchases for you, sir?"

Estevan looked over at the store owner as he stood behind the counter looking over at him.

"Um, no, I don't think so toda..."

Estevan stopped when he saw a very powerful looking sword in one of the display cases behind the counter.

"Hey, uh... Charlie was it? What kind of a sword is that?" asked Estevan as he walked up to the counter and pointed to the sword.

Charlie looked behind him.

"Oh that? That's European silver blade long sword. The whole thing was made completely out of silver. I think it was made to specifically hunt a certain kind of animal," said Charlie.

"Hunting? That's not what I would've guessed. Must've been a hell of an animal," said Estevan.

"You have no idea," Charlie replied with a little chuckle in his voice.

Estevan stared hard at the sword. He was fixated on it. Every little detail, how good of condition it was in. It shined like it had just been made yesterday. Something that Estevan couldn't explain told him he had to have it. This sword needed to be his. He needed to wield it. But why? As extra insurance against the gargoyles? The gargoyles! Estevan was on the trail of someone he thought could lead him to the clan and here he was staring starry eyed at a sword. He had to hurry up and try and pick up Maza's trail again. But still, he felt he needed the sword. But he noticed there was no price tag of any kind for the sword.

"How much for it? The sword I mean," said Estevan.

Charlie's expression changed a little when Estevan asked him. The store owner looked him up and down in a way so subtle, Estevan almost didn't catch it. _Why is this guy checking me out? _

"Well like I said, it is made of real silver and it is really old. So I would say...a thousand dollars," said Charlie.

"I'll take it," Estevan immediately responded.

Then Charlie gave him another shadow of a look. This one of surprise and even agitation. _Does he not want me to have that sword? _Estevan pulled out his money and put it on the counter. Finally Charlie relented, shrugging before he went over and pulled it and its scabbard out of the display case. Estevan noticed that Charlie seemed extremely uneasy holding the sword, almost as if it was hurting him to do so. Charlie put the sword in its scabbard, handed it to Estevan and put the money in register. Estevan grabbed the sword and ran out of the store and back to his truck. As he pulled out onto the street, he tried to think of which way Elisa Maza could've gone. He looked in the direction she was going before she turned in to stop at the antique store.

"But did she really keep going that way?" Estevan asked himself out loud.

He decided he would take the chance and go that way. As he drove off in that direction, one of the buildings caught his eye. It was the Eyrie Building, home of David Xanatos. The place that was suspected twice of being the safe haven for the gargoyles clan. Estevan was hit with a sudden wave of realization. Even if the place had been searched before and didn't turn up any results, it was way to much of a coincidence that the person Estevan was tracking to find the gargoyles was driving in the area of a suspected gargoyles hiding place. At least it was for Estevan who started driving specifically towards the Eyrie Building. His blood was pumping harder then every befor, just like his heart was beating harder then ever before. He knew he was on the right track to his final showdown with the demon bat creatures of the night. He could feel in his bones and in his heart. And he would stop at nothing until his destiny was fulfilled.

* * *

**If you find yourselves somewhat dissatisfied by this chapter in anyway despite the fact that it's longer then the last 2, you're not alone. I admit, this chapter was kind of a hard one to write. In fact, I went through 4 re-writes with it before I finally settled on this version of the chapter. I personally feel as the guy who wrote it and was very proud of the first 2 chapters that while this one is not as good as the others, there are some parts of it that I wrote down that I'm happy with. But hey, if you find any flaws with it, let me know with a review, same if you like it all the way through. Speaking of reviews, BIG SHOUT OUT! to krikanalo who pointed out 2 errors with my second chapter that have since been taken care of. Thanks, man, I hope you keep doing stuff like that and hope you see this story all the way through. Also for those who are interested, I put in the author's note of the first chapter a voice actors list. Yeah, apparently some authors on this site do that when they're writing stories based an animated tv show or movie. Personally, I don't see the point, but the guy who helped me to develop my original character (Estevan Martinez) wanted me to do it because he wanted everyone to know who he hears in his head when he reads the character's dialogue. So since I was doing it for that character and the main cast of Gargoyles, I figured why not do it for my other OCs that will play big parts in the story. So yeah, please remember to leave a review after reading, I always get a kick out that. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off.**


	4. Chapter 4

Estevan pulled up in front of the Eyrie Building and looked around. He spotted Detective Maza's car parked on the side of the street and then looked to see Maza herself walking in the front entrance of the building. For Estevan, it wouldn't be that simple. He would have to find some way to sneak into the Eyrie Building. But how would he do this? The building must've been two thousand feet tall.

Estevan drove around the building looking for a way in. His answer came to him in the form of the huge helicopter landing pad on the north side of the building. Estevan already had the plan forming in his head. He would find the tallest skyscraper next to the Eyrie Building, use his grappling hook and rope launcher to swing across to the Eyrie Building and climb up one of the support beams and make his way to the castle on the top part of the building to begin his search. He knew there was a strong chance the gargoyles were being hidden in a secret room in the building somewhere. But he figured he'd have some time to recuperate from the climb he'd have to take in order to avoid any kind of high tech security Xanatos might have within the interior of the Eyrie Building. Besides it would probably be best to start the search from the top of the building and work his way down.

Estevan parked his truck on the side of the street and looked around at the buildings surrounding the Eyrie Building. He needed one that would be tall enough so he could swing across to the helicopter pad and then begin his climb up the side of Xanatos' building. It would make the climb shorter then it would be if he started from the ground up. He found a skyscraper located behind the Eyrie Building that would suit his plans just fine. Estevan grabbed his rilfe and wrapped its strap around him. He also did this with the strap of his sword's scabbard. Then he grabbed his duffel bag and started walking toward the entrance to the skyscraper. He stopped when he saw people walking around. He knew he would be unable to just walk in the front door carrying all his weapons while all those people were inside. The police would be there faster then he could say, 'I surrender'. Estevan would have to find another way in. So he ran over to the building's side, backed up a little bit, then looked the building up and down.

On the second level, he spotted a dark window, meaning the light in the room was off and that most likely no one was inside. Estevan reached into his duffel bag and pulled out his grappling hook and rope launcher. Then he aimed it above the window, then off to the side and then launched the grappling hook into the concrete wall. Once it broke through, Estevan ran up to the side of the building and tugged hard on the rope to test its stability. The hook was buried nice and hard in the side of the wall. This told Estevan he was okay to proceed climbing up the building side. The climb up was not an easy one, especially due to having to carry the added weight of a duffel bag full of grenades and a net launcher, plus a sword and a rifle, all of these tools of battle supported by straps wrapped around Estevan's body. But he knew that this was nothing compared to the climb he would have to take to reach the top of the Eyrie Building, so he didn't moan or groan or raise a complaint at anytime.

Estevan reached the side of the window and quickly examined it. It was shut and there seemed to be no way to open it from the outside, which meant Estevan would have to break it to get inside. Estevan unwrapped one of his hands from the rope he was clinging onto and pulled the strap of his sword off from around his body. Then with all his might, he swung the sword into the window, shattering it to bits. Then Estevan swung himself through the open space where the window use to be. He managed to land on his feet, but the force from the swing and landing almost sent him rolling down to the glass covered floor. _Come on, Estevan. If you can't brace yourself for a little swing like that, how will you be able to take the impact when you have to swing to the Eyrie Building, _Estevan asked himself through thought. First Estevan tugged as hard as he could on his climbing rope until the grappling hook it was attached to popped out of the building side, then he pulled it to him so he could reload it into his hook and rope launcher. After he stuffed the launcher back into his duffel bag, he picked up his sword and put its strap back around his body.

Then he made his way to the office room's door and opened it up, letting in the light from the hallway. He looked to the right, no one was there. He looked to the left, no one was there. He looked around all the spaces of the hallway as he walked out, making sure there were no security cameras. Then he slowly crept down the hall. As he was walking through the hall, Estevan decided the best thing to do was use the stairwell since he is less likely to run into any other person that way._ People do usually prefer the elevator to the stairs._ Estevan's thoughts were interrupted when he heard voices approaching from the opposite end of the hall. Estevan looked around frantically for a place to duck into and hide. He found a door that led into a restroom and went in. He kept the door just a crack open so that he can hear and see who was coming.

"I'm telling you, I heard something break," a female voice said.

"Well then where did it come from?" asked a male voice.

"I think it came from in here. But I can't see anything."

"Well then turn on the light."

Estevan then saw a light illuminate from the office he just came from, followed by one of the people inside gasping in shock.

"See I told you," the woman boasted.

"Yeah, you were right about something breaking. But how did it happen?" the man asked.

Estevan figured this was the best time to make a break for it since those two were preoccupied in another room. So he slowly crept out of the restroom and down the hall, looking for the entrance to the stairwell. It took a couple minutes of walking, while also looking around to make sure there was no one who could see him, but eventually he did find the door that led him to the stairs. He hurried into the vertical shaft that housed the stairs and shut the door behind him. Then Estevan took time to stick his head over the rail and look up. It was an extremely long walk up the stairs if someone was planning on taking them all the way up to the top, which Estevan was.

_It wont be just a stroll down the road, but I got to do it, _Estevan thought to himself before he started his climb up the stairs. As he predicted, it wasn't easy or short in anyway whatsoever. The added weight of his weapons didn't help things either. But despite the hard and long walk upwards, Estevan and his resolve were undeterred. He knew it was going to be worth it. He knew when he was done here he would be that much closer to reaching his goal. No, his destiny. He knew that once he climbed to the top of this building and then took the big swing to the Eyrie Building and then took the climb up it, he would be able to face the monsters he's been waiting eleven years to slay as vengeance after the fate that befell his family at the hands of one of those monsters when Estevan was only four. Knowing all this gave Estevan the extra energy boost he needed to get to the top of the building. He could of done without the extra boost of his adrenaline rush, but he may or may not have been exhausted from the long trip up without it.

But none of that mattered now because Estevan was now standing in front of the door that would take him out onto the roof of the skyscraper. He pushed on the handl. But the door didn't open. Estevan tried pushing the handle harder, but it still wouldn't budge. Then he tried putting his full body weight against door and still it wouldn't open. _It must be locked, _Estevan thought to himself. So he took a few steps back and then kicked his foot out with all the strength he could muster into his leg. The force of the kick sent the door flying open, allowing Estevan to run through before the door could come swinging back. Estevan felt the high altitude winds blowing hard all around him. But they weren't enough to take him off his feet. He looked around and spotted the Eyrie Building and then jogged over to the end of the skyscraper so he could get a better look at the building he intended to climb. He saw that the helicopter landing pad itself was exactly leveled with the roof of the building Estevan was currently standing on. This would help very much in his climb. He also saw a helicopter not currently in use on the landing pad. _I could probably use that for a quick getaway,_ Estevan thought to himself.

One of the other things he learned to do over the years was fly helicopters and small planes. And because he had been asking himself how he was going to get out of there once he was done slaughtering the gargoyles or if something went wrong and he would have to make a hasty retreat ever since he learned he'd have to break into a skyscraper, it felt good knowing there was one option open. Something Estevan had also learned to do was big mountain climbing, something he was sure would aid in his final climb up the side of the Eyrie Building. Although his climb was cut in more than a half, Estevan knew the climb would still be one of the hardest things he'd ever have to go through. After the big open space that came after the helipad, the next section of the building was so big, it looked as if it could fill the eighty foot or so gap underneath that stood between it and the helipad. Then after that section of the building came the castle. Estevan would have to scale over the castle wall to get in before he could finally begin his hunt for the gargoyles. And he would have to do all this while a thousand plus feet in the air.

"I've got to do it. I am going to do it! And nothing or no one can do anything to stop me!" Estevan reassured himself.

First he got out his binoculars and set them on night vision due to the ever darkening sky as the sun went down and then looked through them at the Eyrie Building. He spotted what he thought would be the best spot to launch his grappling hook at, the bottom of the beam that supported the part of the building between the helipad and the castle. Then Estevan reached into his bag and pulled out the launcher and aimed for the spot and then launched the hook, the attached climbing rope flying behind it. The hook broke into the side of the support beam that held most of the building above the helipad together. Estevan then pulled the rope up to him until there wasn't any slack from it. Then Estevan gave the rope a few tugs to make sure the hook was sufficiently attached to the support beam. Before he swung down, Estevan grabbed his bag and put the strap over his body. _It wont be easy lugging all these weapons along, _Estevan thought to himself. _But then, nothing about this has been easy so far, nor do I see it getting any easier, _His thoughts continued. Then it was time. Estevan planted his feet just on the edge of the building, took in a deep breath and let it out.

"Here we go," Estevan announced.

Then Estevan jumped off the edge sending him swinging on his rope towards the helipad support beam. Estevan tried to brace himself for the impact, keeping his legs out in front of him. He landed feet first on the side of the helipad. Estevan felt the shock go into his legs. Surprisingly it didn't hurt that much, which was just fine with Estevan. He wasted no time and started climbing up the side of the support beam. While the altitude and the added weight of his weapons were obstacles, Estevan got through the climb and got to the base of the next section of the Eyrie Building. Estevan took the opportunity to sit down and take a breather. Trying to keep hidden behind the support beam so no one could see him through the big window that looked out over the city. Then like the last time he got done climbing the side of a building, Estevan pulled his grappling hook out of the side of the support beam and reloaded it into its launcher.

"Okay, I think I only gotta launch this thing one or two more times before this climb is over and done with," Estevan said to himself.

Estevan decided it was time to continue his climb. He stood up and aimed his launcher at the support beam above him and again launched the hook and rope once again. The hook broke into the bottom of the base for the castle part of the building. Then Estevan began climbing again. This climb was just as long and exhausting as the last one. But like before, Estevan didn't grumble or complain. He kept up the hard working, fast pace he had when he climbed up the other building and when he climbed up from the helipad. It paid off when he reached the base of the castle. Estevan got his body up and over onto the other side of the castle base. He took a few quick gasps of air before he reached down and pulled the hook out of the spot he shot it into, then rolled away from the edge. Estevan laid there looking up at the support beam he thought he would have to climb next. But then he looked to his left and saw a boulder pile.

Estevan quickly got to his feet and ran up to the pile and looked up to see that the castle rested on it. This meant that Estevan could skip climbing up that last support beam with his rope and climb this boulder pile instead. Then all he would have to do is get over the castle wall and then his search for the gargoyles could begin. And he would take down anybody who got in his way.

"Mother..., Father..., Angel, this is for you," Estevan said out loud.

Then Estevan began his final climb that would take him to what he hoped would be his long awaited battle with the gargoyles.

* * *

**I'm much happier with this chapter then I was with the last and I hope you all like it to. I've never tried doing one of this Mission Impossible/James Bond type of break in scenes before (did James Bond ever climb up the side of a building before I.D.K.) and I was so nervous about it that I went back and read what I had already written and just as a reader and someone who knew the lay out of the Eyrie Building and its surrounding area, I was pleased. But that was just my opinion and I want you to share yours with a review. Please and thank you. And if you don't know the lay out of the Eyrie Building and its surrounding area, there's a picture in the article for the Eyrie Building on Gargwiki .net of the side of the building the helipad is on. It will probably help those who had problems visualizing the scenario. Of course if I was a really good writer, you viewers wouldn't need that aid. Anyways, we're just about at the main event, the introduction of the characters you clicked on this story to read about. Stay on the alert for when it happens. I'm The Guy Who Likes To View Stuff and I'll see you on Chapter 5. **


	5. Chapter 5

Estevan got up over the wall and landed his feet on the ground of the back part of the castle and took a moment to look at his surroundings. It was an amazing sight to behold, but Estevan wasn't interested in the castle itself, no matter how nice it was to look at. No, he was more interested in what people and what monsters may be walking around the castle grounds. Estevan took his weapons aside to check on them and be sure that they are all in tact, not damaged at all and basically still functional in their purposes. They were all fine, so Estevan started to slowly sneak around, trying to get to either the middle or front of the castle. Through his walking up and down several sets of stairs and walking in and out of open doorways that ran throughout the castle, Estevan was surprised to find that there was absolutely no one else around that area of the building. No sign of the man, David Xanatos himself, no security guards and so far much to Estevan's disappointment, no gargoyles.

But Estevan reminded himself that again, this was only the top part of the building. He had several thousand more feet of building to check once he was done searching the castle. There were several large courtyard areas of the castle, which Estevan stuck to for the first half of his search since he was sure there were people in the larger rooms and halls. Estevan took a quick opportunity to load up his rifle for when he did start searching the more inhabited parts of the building. He also pulled a gas grenade out of his duffel bag for safe measure. He then continued sneaking about so as not to be seen by any stray eyes. Although at this point, Estevan was almost completely sure he wouldn't find anybody outside. But he wouldn't let his guard down no matter what. Estevan's sneaking walk took him to a part of the castle that was next to the tallest tower and overlook the front courtyard, which Estevan found to be the biggest.

"Wow, it's so big, it could probably used as a second helipad," Estevan observed.

Then he looked up at the high castle tower next to him. He saw what looked like a person standing at the very top of the tower. It was very hard for Estevan to see the person though, he or she was so high up. Still Estevan ducked down because he was sure the person would be able to see him, having as good of a view as he suspected someone might have from that spot. Estevan pulled out his night vision binoculars and used them to try and get a better look at the person on the top of the tower. It was still hard for him to see the person due to the angle he was at. But he was still pretty sure from what he could see as to who the person was.

"Elisa Maza!" Estevan said to himself in an excited whisper.

Yes, Estevan was almost completely convinced that the person up on the tower was the detective he followed here in the first place. He could see her long hair flowing behind her in the wind. _It looks like she's waiting for something, _Estevan thought to himself. _Wait! _Estevan saw that Elisa was standing close to the ledge next to someone or something. It looked... kind of like... a gargoyle! _Yes! At long last. After all this time, I've found the beasts that have haunted my dreams for so long. Now my revenge can be complete. _Estevan rueshd to the opening that he originally walked through to get out to the spot he was on when he spotted Maza. It also had another opening that led to the stairs that would take him up to the tower. Estevan then eagerly started hiking up the spiraling staircase knowing this was all that was left between him and the winged menace. He went up and up and up before stopping quickly to make sure his gun was loaded and the safety was off. He held his rifle in one hand, while he held a gas grenade in the other. Then Estevan proceeded walking up the stairs, much slower this time. His plan was simple. He would move fast before either Maza or the gargoyle knew he was there, first throwing the grenade at them, which would knock Elisa Maza out while Estevan lifted his rifle to shoot the gargoyle down and kill him. _But wait, wasn't it a whole clan that has been spotted in New York, _Estevan's thoughts wondered.

"They must be hiding somewhere else in the building. Well, if so, I'll just go through the building until I find and kill them all," Estevan decided.

As he continued walking up the stairs, he began to focus on the sad truth that he may not make it out of this night alive. He was trapped on the top of a two thousand foot tall skyscraper that belonged to a man who's made his fortune off of several different business ventures, including weapons manufacturing. So he was more then likely to have installed some of those weapons all over the building to add onto his security force. Plus again, he was going up against a clan of gargoyles on top of it. So the odds of him realistically coming out of this uninjured or even alive were less then likely. So what would he do? He pondered and pondered and finally came to the conclusion.

"I knew going in that looking for a fight with a clan of gargoyles wasn't exactly a picnic to the beach. But I wasn't afraid then and I wont be afraid now. If I die, I die. But I'm sure as Hell gonna take one of those winged bastards with me."

As the walk up continued, Estevan's stair trip brought him to an opening that led to a little section a few feet below the tower top that people could walk out onto. At first Estevan ignored the opening, wanting to continue up to where he thought he could find a gargoyle. But as he passed by, something caught Estevan's eye. Something that made him stop for a little bit before hurrying out onto the ledge. What he saw made his heart sank. He came out here because he saw a whole bunch of gargoyles. And oh yes, he saw gargoyles alright. But they weren't living, breathing or made of flesh and bone. No, they were lifeless statues made of cold, hard stone. Estevan let out an aggravated and disappointed sigh and hung his head low as he shook it. He was about to go back inside and start walking up the stairs again. But then he stopped and dropped his rifle. He also let the strap of his weapons bag slide off his shoulder as his heart sunk even lower at his sudden thought.

_What if the gargoyle on the top is just a statue too? _Estevan went back out where the statues were and walked out to the end of ledge where the statues stood and then stuck his upper body over it and then looked up towards the top of the tower. It was hard to see from the angle and because the sun was almost completely down. But he was just able to make out the gargoyle enough to see that it was indeed a statue. Estevan felt his breathing starting to get faster, yet it seemed like he was getting less of it and he had to catch the stands of the gargoyle statues in between him to keep from falling over into oblivion because his legs gave out.

"Is this what I worked so hard for?" Estevan asked himself.

"Is this what I gave up my sister and eight years of my life for? All that hard training while living a life on the road and where did it get me? On top of a fortress in a sky basically and staring at a bunch of statues that I like an idiot thought were real gargoyles!"

Estevan leaned his body up against one of the statues as his eyes started to tear up.

"Now what am I gonna do? Sure those gargoyles are probably still out in the city somewhere. But now I'm in a position where I'm almost sure to be spotted by a security camera or someone and get caught and thrown in jail. I was a fool to think I'd be able to get to the helicopter pad and use the helicopter to get away. I was fool to come to a place thinking it was a gargoyle haven when it was disproven as being such twice!"

Estevan caught himself and quieted his voice. Elisa Maza was still several feet above him and even though he was almost sure he wouldn't be able to get out of this skyscraper without being seen, he would still like the chance to find out. But he was still hurting inside and still confused on how to proceed. Did this mean Maza wasn't a gargoyle ally helping to hide them or was this night's result only because she chose not to go to the gargoyles this night? Estevan looked out to the city sky and watched as the sun fully set and the skies started to darken completely. It was almost like a symbol of how Estevan was feeling with his heart sinking and his spirit darkening.

"Wait a minute! Just because these aren't the gargoyles doesn't mean they aren't still here," Estevan realized.

"I still have a whole skyscraper to search. I just let my emotions get the best of me."

Estevan grabbed his duffel bag and started heading for the stairs. But then he realized that the fact that he was still stuck on a skyscraper two thousand feet in the air was still a reality, as was the fact that he was still most likely to get caught. _So how am I going to play this out, _Estevan thought to himself. Estevan stopped when he heard a noise. It started off sounding like the pitter patter of tiny claws scraping against something solid. Then it got louder and began to sound more like stone cracking and breaking. Estevan turned around and hurried over to the statues and checked them out. He could see that they weren't what was breaking. Then he realized, the sound was coming from above. Estevan stuck his body over the ledge and looked up again. And he saw it! The gargoyle statue on the top of the tower had cracks forming all over it. This surprised Estevan greatly. But he was even more unprepared and shocked when the statue busted into hundreds of tiny pieces of rubble.

Estevan's body trembled with shock and fear when he saw that in the statue's place was an actual living and breathing gargoyle. Estevan terror filled awe increased when he saw the monster spread its wings, throw his hands back and lift its head to the sky and let out a loud and bone chilling roar, announcing his awakening. Seeing this gargoyle made Estevan temporarily forget about his years of training and instead made the memories of that night in the fire when his parents were killed and he saw the gargoyle that did it flood back into his mind. But there were several big differences from that night and this moment now. While he was unable to see the gargoyle that killed his parents good enough to make out body details except wings and glowing eyes, he was able to see several physical details of this gargoyle that just broke out of it stone, sleep-like state. First of all his saw that this gargoyle was much bigger and far more muscular. He was also able to tell that this gargoyle was a male and that he had long, black hair. Also, while the gargoyle from that night had glowing red eyes, this one had normal looking eyes. But then he saw them starting to glow with a white light. This gargoyle looked to be the true living and breathing embodiment of fear. Estevan was so terrified that for a little bit he forgot his years of training, his weapons he brought with him and his plan to try and take out whatever gargoyles he found. Instead of wanting to face the gargoyle, he wanted to hide from it. The fear filled Estevan ran up and pressed his body against the stone wall that was a small part of the tower, wanting to hide himself from the gargoyle's sight.

At that moment, several thoughts were running through Estevan's head, all of them basically saying the same thing. _Oh my God, what the hell have I gotten myself into? I can't go toe to toe in a fight with that thing! What was I thinking?! Now I'm stuck up here with that demon! What the hell am I going to do?! _Estevan's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of low rumbling. The rumbles were quickly joined by the sounds of stone cracking. Estevan looked on with horror to see that all the gargoyle statues that were with him on that level of the tower were all starting to shake and cracks were forming all around them.

"Oh God," Estevan whispered in fear.

He grabbed all his stuff together and then ducked into the opening to the stair case. He slowly peeked his head out to watch as the statues broke away to reveal more living gargoyles who all lifted their heads to the sky and let out loud roars of their own. Estevan was able to get enough of a look to see that these gargoyles while similar in many ways had many distinct characteristics of their own. For example, Estevan saw that one of them was elderly and carried a side sword, while there was another that had a beak and the smallest one's wings were not the bat configuration the others had where the wings were separate limbs, but are more like a webbed membrane between his arms and legs, akin to a flying squirrel, with one extra set of limbs below his arms that help support the membrane. And then Estevan saw two sights he wasn't really expecting? The first was that of a female gargoyle, one the same color of blue as the monster he saw on the top of the tower. Estevan never thought of the fact that there would be female gargoyles alongside male gargoyles. Hell, he never thought about the idea of separate genders of gargoyles at all. He just figured if it looks like a gargoyle, kill it like a gargoyle. But now that he had a chance to think about it despite being completely terrified, it isn't to big of a stretch to think that gargoyles would have two different sexes the same as humans. But what he didn't expect to see was the four legged beast that stood next to the female. It looked kind of like a dog, but with gargoyle features. In other words, a gargoyle dog.

_A gargoyle dog? How is there a gargoyle dog? Where do gargoyle dogs come from? Are there gargoyle cats?! _Estevan's thoughts were going crazy again, but he caught himself when he saw one of the gargoyles looking towards the opening where his head was sticking out. He quickly ducked his head out of sight and then hurried up the stairs, trying to get away from the creatures of the night he just witnessed breaking free from their stone restraints. He didn't realize he was going the wrong way on the stair case until he felt the cold night wind blowing down upon him from the opening that would take him to the very top of the tower is he kept going up.

"Hello, Elisa, it is good to wake and find you here waiting for me. I look forward to the nights when you are here and we are together."

"Was..that...the gargoyle?" Estevan whispered to himself.

Then he heard a quick little giggle from Maza.

"You're still the same smooth talker you always have been, Goliath and I'm very happy for it. Also, you and the insane gargoyle posse still have the most epic yawn ever," Elisa Maza replied to her gargoyle companion.

_This is insanity. I have to get out of here, _Estevan thought to himself. He started to walk down the stairs but then stopped when he remembered that the rest of the gargoyle clan was that way. Estevan was trapped.

* * *

**Oh boy, we're really cooking now! The Clan is in the house! Or...in the castle-skyscraper-thingy... Whatever! But in all seriousness, out of the chapters I've written thus far, this one is by far my favorite simply because I finally got to introduce The Manhattan Clan, which means I'll be able to get the real story moving faster. I loved writing the chapter and I hope you enjoy reading it and if you do, tell me about it in a review. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off. **

**Quick note: I fixed the spelling problems here on this chapter. Sorry about that, I forgot to go through this chapter and check the spelling. But now it's better and can therefore give you the readers a better reading experience. **


	6. Chapter 6

Estevan was in a panic. How was he going to get out of this mess? He was on top of a skyscraper two thousand feet in the air and was trapped on a stair case between one very intimidating gargoyle and his clan. They hadn't seen him yet. But if the clan were to come walking up the stairs or the biggest gargoyle came walking down the stairs with the detective Elisa who Estevan followed here. They would see him and then who knows what they would do to him? _I'm trapped, I'm trapped, I'm trapped! I can't get away! What am I going to do?! _Estevan's emotion filled thoughts just kept bombarding him with questions. But then his thoughts were made to rest temporarily when he heard the sound of wings flying through the updraft in the air, followed by the sounds of feet gently landing on the ground above.

Estevan peeked his head up from the opening that led the stairs up to the tower top and saw that the other gargoyles had flown up and joined Elisa Maza and the big gargoyle on the roof. He wanted to take the opportunity to try and get away. But at the same time a combonation of paralyzing fear and curiosity kept Estevan in place. The curiosity stemmed from the fact that seeing the gargoyles interact with each other and actual humans beings could make Estevan learn some things about them. So he didn't run, choosing instead to watch and observe the interactions.

"Elisa, it's good to see you again," said the smallest gargoyle.

"Aye, lass, it's been a little while since we last saw you," the elderly gargoyle said with a scottish accent.

"I'll say we haven't," the chubbiest gargoyle added on.

"Almost been two weeks," the beaked gargoyle afirmed.

"Oh, boys, calm down. It hasn't been that long," said the female.

"You'll have to excuse them, Elisa. You know what they can be like sometimes."

"Yeah, I know, Angela. But it just feels good to have such good friends that want you so much," Elisa responded.

"Hey, what do you mean what we can be like?" the chubby gargoyle asked.

"Oh, come on, Broadway. You and I both know that when you get anxious, you can act childish," the female identified as Angela responded.

"Are you talking about that one Thanksgiving? I told you, I didn't eat breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, or lunner because I was making extra room and the chef was fifteen minutes late with the food," said the gargoyle named Broadway.

Everyone else laughed at the chubby gargoyle's defensive words.

"I think she was talking about all of us, Chubby Checker," said the beaked gargoyle. Broadway gave his gargoyle friend a slightly angered look.

"Don't you have some bird seed to peck at, Big Bird?" Broadway retorted.

The beaked gargoyle just brushed off his clan brother's words.

"Anyways, Angela's right, we have been on edge lately. Mostly because of this whole murder mystery in the park thing. And we all know you've been following it very carefully."

"Thanks for your concern, Brooklyn. Yeah, it's true that the murder case has been the main focus of my attention lately. Mostly to try and clear your guys' names," said Elisa.

"Have you learned anything new?" asked the biggest gargoyle.

"Unfortunately, no, we're just as lost now as we were when we started. I've asked a new friend I made recently who owns a shop near the park if he's seen anything suspicous. But he says he hasn't," said Elisa.

"A new friend?" the biggest gargoyle enquired.

"Relax, Goliath, he's just a guy who opened up an antique shop near the park recently."

_'Goliath', what a fitting name for such a beast, _Estevan thought to himself. The gargoyles looked at Elisa with curiosity.

"Okay, here it is. Two months ago, I was patroling the area around Central Park and came across this shop that was just opening up business. I was curious, so I went in and that's when I met Charlie."

"Charlie?"

"Charlie Luther, the old man who who owns the shop. Anyways, I went in, he was there, we got to talking and he turn out to be a good conversation and a very friendly guy and ever since then, I've been stopping by to chat once in a while."

The gargoyles all had semi-disapproving looks on their faces, which Elisa Maza took note of.

"What, I'm not allowed to have any friends outside of you guys?" Elisa asked more jokingly then defensively.

"We do not object to you having other companionships, Elisa. But I'm pretty sure everyone else is thinking what I'm about to ask you. Should you really be interacting with someone who opened shop near where the park murders have taking place and when they started?" Goliath asked.

"Wait, you're not trying to imply that Charlie...? I mean, you don't even know the guy and already you're..."

"We don't mean to judge, lass. Prehaps it's just us being on edge since these murders have been blamed on us and we haven't been able to investigate the park as much as we want to try and clear our names. But I to believe it is rather odd finding out about a guy who happened to show up around the area the murders have been since they started. Call me suspicious, but I just don't believe in coencidences that big," the elderly gargoyle said.

"I'm telling you, Charlie's not like that. He's a sweet old man. Sure he's built bigger then the average guy, but he's just not the kind who would do something as brutal and evil as these murders are. Like I said, I've known him for two months, none of you know him at all. So I think I'd know if he was involved in anayway."

_She's the detective. Shouldn't she know that psychotic killers are the people we least expect? _Estevan asked himself in thought. But his attention was quickly grabbed back by the conversation between the clan and the detective.

"Alright, Elisa. Since you feel so strongly about this friend of yours, we will no longer blinfly judge him," said Goliath.

"Besides that, the reports Elisa was telling us about before said that it was probably more than one guy doing it," said the beaked gargoyle going by the name, Brooklyn.

"Not only that, but they don't even know for sure if it is a guy persay. Right, Elisa?" said the smallest gargoyle.

"Well...it's strange. We've never really seen a case like this. We even had to bring in several different kinds of crime scene investigators. The results they found confused them just as much as they confused the rest of the bureau," said Elisa.

"Oh yes, I remember when you first told us. What was it described like again? The crime scene results showed the savagery of an animal," the old gargoyle said.

"But the precision of a human being," the small gargoyle added on.

Goliath let out a sigh of aggrivation.

"What are we dealing with here? A man? An animal? Some mixture of both that could've come from some ancient mythology or science lab? It is so...infuriating."

"Aye, lad. Not helped at all by the fact that we can't search the park as good or as often as we should," said the old gargoyle.

"Yeah, because of the officer that are patroling up and down the park hoping to catch us in the act," said Brooklyn bitterly.

"Come on, Brooklyn. You know it isn't like that. They're only trying to make it safe for people to walk around Central Park again, regardless of who or what they might catch in the act. They're not conspiring against us or hoping that it is us for sure. ...Are they, Elisa?"

"I don't know for sure, Angela. I think at this point, they'd just be happy to catch The Boogeyman," Elisa replied.

"Yeah, I'm especially sure they'd be happy if The Boogeyman ended up having wings and a tail," Brooklyn said spitefully.

"Calm yourself, my friend," Goliath said as he placed his hand on Brooklyn's shoulder.

"It's true that this whole situation is aggrivating. But it's not just for the reason you're thinking of. Oh no, there are even bigger reasons. We pledged to watch over this city, keep its people safe. But we are unable to because of our limited patrols that turn up negative, we are unable to do so." Goliath walked over to the edge of the tower, put his foot up on the spot where he stood as a statue and looked down on the city.

"That is the worst feeling of all."

_So they're not the ones responsible for the attacks in the park. But then who or what is? _Estevan wondered. He also noted that they did not act or speak like he was expecting. He expecting either very demonic speaking voices or roars and screeches or animal like beahvior. But except for when they first awoke, they all seemed to act and talk like they were regular people walking down the street. The only voice that seemed to stand out as abnormal was that of the big gargoyle named Goliath. His voice sounded like it could make mountains tremble in fear. But it wasn't in a monsterous way. Oh no, it was more of a...heroic, hurclean way. _Are these really the monsters I thought they'd be? _Estevan asked himself in his head.

_"Does it really matter?! They're still part of the species that killed you family! Now that they're right there in front of you, you're gonna go and decide you're scared shitless and back out on the plan of revenge you've been working on for the last eleven years, you big coward?!" _Estevan was taken aback.

He had just heard a voice in his head not his own. Similar, but much more angry and instead of it being a voice speaking his thoughts in his head, it was talking, no, screaming at him.

_"I can't believe this! After all your hard work, all your training, your whole life as a below average person living on the streets of hard knocks, now that you've come this close, you're just going to forget about avenging your family? Redeeming your parents' memory? NO! You're here now and the kin of the beast that took away your innocence and ruined your life are right there in front of you within firing distance of your rifle! So aim the damn thing and start firing! You could take down two, three tops before the rest reach you. That's when you bring your other weapons into play. Now start doing it! Don't you dare turn your back on this plan of revenge for your mother, your father and to an extent your sister! DO IT!" _

Having heard the voice that went off in his head and finally recovering from his shock of seeing the gargoyles for the first time, Estevan's expression turned stone cold, his resolve to kill the gargoyles once again as strong as the day he left the orphanage. It was time to put his eleven year plan into action and end his equally long journey of revenge. But then he heard Brooklyn say, "Hey, how about we try our luck with a patrol tonight?"

"Yeah, let's go for it. I mean assuming that the police patrol tonight isn't a strong one," the littliest gargoyle agreed.

"Well, Elisa, were you by the park today? How is the patrol tonight?" Brooklyn asked eagerly.

"Yeah I went by there. Lucky for you all we live in a city that requires a big chunk of law enforcement attention in other areas. So yeah, tonight's patrol isn't really the biggest. But do you really think you should take the chance of getting spotted or even caught?" said Elisa.

"Well it's not exactly a little kids swing and sandbox kind of park we're talking about here, lass. No, this is one of the biggest public parks in the world. We should have plenty of room to avoid the patrollers around the park. I agree with Brooklyn and Lexington that we should go out and see if we can't find those nasty beasties that our ruining our good name by taking innocent lives," the old gargoyle chimed in.

Everyone had thought filled looks on their faces.

"What do you think, Goliath?" Brooklyn asked.

"Yeah, we'd like to hear from you and make this official," said the small gargoyle.

Estevan assumed he was the one named Lexington who the old one was referring to earlier.

"Well, Father?" asked Angela.

Goliath stared off thoughtfully. Then he turned back to the others and said, "Alright, we'll go. Angela, you, Hudson and Bronx will stay here this time. I'll go out with Brooklyn, Broadway and Lexington to search the park for the assailants responsible for these terrible crimes."

Goliath jumped up to the end of the tower and then looked back at Brooklyn, Broadway and Lexington.

"Come along you three," said Goliath.

They didn't need to be told twice. They immediately jumped up along side their leader, prepared to fly out into the night sky.

"No, they're going to get away," Estevan whispered to himself.

He would have to act fast if he wanted to finish them. He lifted up his rifle and took aim at the gargoyle clan. Elisa walked up to Goliath and asked him, "Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?"

"We have to," Goliath replied.

"Without risk, there's no reward," Broadway added on. "We need to do this to clear our names," said Brooklyn.

"Don't worry, Elisa, okay. We'll be fine," said Lexington.

Elisa nodded understandingly, despite the somewhat worried look on her face that she tried to hide. Goliath looked back at Angela and the old gargoyle who was identified as Hudson.

"You two don't mind staying behind do you?" Goliath asked.

"Not at all, Father. This will give me and Elisa time for some girl talk," said Angela with a little bit of a laugh.

"And you don't need to worry about me either, Goliath. While I would like to be there if this is indeed the night the murderers will be caught and brought to justice. I think I'm getting to old for this sort of thing. Besides, maybe this'll be the night I finally teach Bronx how to roll over," said Hudson.

Everyone laughed out at that last comment.

"Bronx?" Estevan whispered to himself.

He knew now who all these gargoyles were. The big one who led this clan was Goliath, the old gargoyle was named Hudson, the beaked one was Brooklyn, the chubby one was Broadway, the smallest was Lexington and the girl was Angela. _But who's Bronx? ...THE DOG!_ Estevan realized that he hadn't seen the dog-like gargoyle come up with the others. So where was it. Estevan was startled when out of nowhere came the sounds of an animal growling and roaring at him. Estevan looked down the stair case to see the glowing eyes and shadowy body of the gargoyle dog coming straight at him.

* * *

**Well here it is, I'm back again. Sorry it took a little bit to update this story. I was preoccupied with other things like prepping other stories I plan to do and also I haven't been much in the writing mood this month. That is...until about a week ago. Also, you may all be aware that the site has been going through a few tune ups and stuff like that. But here it is, shit is about to start happening. One thing I'll need to work on going forward is dialogue. Yeah, even though there's been dialogue, for the most part I've been telling the story without a whole lot of it. Now we got characters actually interacting and talking with each other, so I gotta work on that. So sorry if the dialogue seems clunky at first. Another thing I'll need to try to work on is capturing the separate personalities of the gargoyles and Elisa. Goliath I think wont be a big problem because he's the strong, brave and heroic bad ass leader type. I think I can do that. The others may be a little more difficult. But you all let me know how I do with the characters and other aspects of the story with a review. Be totally honest, I can take it. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off.**


	7. Chapter 7

For a moment, Estevan's fear and shock had returned, freezing him in place. How long had the dog gargoyle been there? Was it just standing there watching him all that time as Estevan himself watched the gargoyles? Or did he just decide to walk up the stairs a few seconds ago and Estevan was in the wrong place at the wrong time?

"Sounds like Bronx finally decided to come up and join us," said Angela.

"Aye, but why does he sound so aggressive? Bronx, what are you doing down there? Why you making all that racket? Did you get flees again?" said Hudson.

Estevan panicked even more when he heard footsteps coming towards him. Estevan shook off his fear as best as he before he turned his rifle on Bronx. But he was unable to get his finger on the trigger properly, fiddling it around trying to wrap it around said trigger. It got even worse when a shadow fell over him, making the dark stair way even darker. Estevan looked up to see Hudson and Angela standing above him.

"Hey, it's a boy! There's a boy on the stairs," Hudson called to the others.

"And he has a gun pointed at Bronx!" Angela added.

Estevan heard the sound of multiple pairs of footsteps approaching him. Estevan looked back down the stairs when he heard Bronx's roars get louder. He saw the gargoyle dog charging at him. Panic driving him, Estevan managed to get his finger on the trigger of his rifle and pulled it, firing off a round. But his aim and control of the weapon was so off, the shot didn't even come close to hitting Bronx, who jumped up at Estevan. Thinking quick on his feet, Estevan rolled underneath the leaping night creature. Estevan got back up on his feet and turned around to face the gargoyle dog. What he got instead was the glowing eye, roaring, giant of a gargoyle named Goliath who reached down and grabbed the end of Estevan's rifle and pointed it upward as Estevan let off another shot, that went up in the air. Then Goliath pulled the rifle out Estevan's hands and snapped it in two right before Estevan's eyes. As Goliath threw the two gun halves to the side, Estevan reached for his weapons bag.

But he was stopped when Goliath jumped toward him, kicking his foot into Estevan's chest and sending him rolling down the steps. Estevan stopped rolling when he hit the spot where the wall opens up to the area where the other gargoyles had been when they were stone. Estevan groaned in pain as he tossed around on the ground for a little bit, grabbing at his chest where he was kicked before he regained his composure and pushed himself back up to his feet. Estevan reached into his weapons bag and pulled out a gas grenade, not thinking of anything else except, '_How the hell am I gonna escape?_'. Estevan looked up when he heard the battle roar of Goliath. And he saw the gargoyle himself sprinting down the stairs towards him.

"Who are you?!" Goliath demanded as he hurried towards Estevan.

"How did you get into the castle and why are your pointing weapons and attacking my..."

Goliath was cut off when Estevan pulled the pin off his gas grenade and throwing it at the ground, making the grenade go off and release its knockout gas. Estevan didn't waste anytime as he began running down the stair case, moving as fast as possible to get away from the gargoyle who was currently coughing heavily from the gas and trying to navigate his way through the cloud. Estevan was in full on panic and survival mode and would do whatever he had to do to gain control of the situation, escape and maybe take out one or more of the gargoyles along the way if it came down to that. Estevan reached the end of the stairway that led out to one of the castle's many courtyards. This particular courtyard was the one in the middle. Estevan started to jog down the courtyard, but then he ran back up to and pressed his body up against one of the castle walls to hide himself when he heard the screeches and roars of the gargoyles emanating from the top of the tower. He looked up at the tower to see three of the gargoyles leap off the sides of the tower and opened their wings to fly into the sky. Estevan looked down to the other end of the courtyard and saw that there was a door leading into the building itself and inside there'll probably be an elevator which he could use to get down to the helipad and then hijack the helicopter to get away.

_But what about Xanatos' security precautions? _Estevan asked himself in thought. But then he heard the sound of one of the gargoyles' wings flapping through the air somewhere above him. _I'll just have to chance it. At this point, I'd take men with guns over these winged demons from Hell, _Estevan decided. He sucked in a deep breath before he started running across the courtyard, full speed ahead trying to ge to the door. However, unfortunately for Estevan, he was cut off when the gargoyle he assumed was Lexington came landing on the ground in front of him. Estevan reached into his weapons bag and pulled out a gas grenade. But before he could throw it, Lexington held his hands out in front of him and said, "No, wait! Stop! I wanna find a peaceful solution first, please. We just want to know why you've decided to attack us, okay? There doesn't have to be any violence. I don't wanna fight you."

Estevan ignored the gargoyle's words and pulled the pin off his grenade before tossing it. Lexington ducked under the flying object and then watched it land behind him and explode into a gas cloud. When Lexington turned back, Estevan saw his eyes were glowing and he had an angry snarl on his face.

"But I will if I have to!" Lexington shouted before he charged at Estevan with a battle cry.

Estevan reached behind him for his sword, pulling it out of its scabbard. Then Estevan held the sword out in front of him before lifting it above his head and charging at Lexington. He swung his sword down at Lexington, but the clever gargoyle was able to move out of the way and grab Estevan's wrist before punching him in the face. The force from the blow rocked Estevan so hard that it rocked him off his feet. In all his years of training in hand to hand combat, no one had ever hit him so hard. As Estevan expected, these gargoyles had much greater strength then that of any man. Estevan's reflecting was interrupted when he felt the handle of the sword being pulled out of his hand and heard it get tossed to the other side of the courtyard, making a loud clang when he fell. Then he saw Lexington leaping down on him, arms stretched out and hand reaching out. Estevan was ready however as he reached one of his hands up and caught Lexington by the arm while at the same time kicking his feet up into Lexington's stomach and used the momentum to flip him up, over and to the ground. Estevan quickly got up to his feet and looked for his sword.

Once he spotted it, Estevan ran to it and picked it up off the ground. He didn't have time to relax though as Brooklyn landed in front of him.

"First you point a gun at our pet, then you hurt one of my brothers! You have officially overstayed your welcome here," Brooklyn said before swiping his claws at Estevan.

He moved as fast as he possibly could to avoid each swipe of the gargoyle's claws. However, this was not easy, as it turns out aside from being extra strong, these gargoyles were also very fast and agile. But he seemed to being doing good up until one of the gargoyle's claws tore a hole in Estevan's shirt. This set of an alarm in Estevan's head which made him drop to the ground and swing his leg into Brooklyn's legs, kicking them out from under him. "Oof!" Brooklyn let out as he hit the ground. Estevan and Brooklyn both got up to one knee at the same time. The two looked into each others eyes and got even angrier at each other. The two swung their fists into each others face at the same time. Brooklyn's punch was stronger, but Estevan was no slouch either as Brooklyn found out the hard way. The two combatants got back to their feet and quickly charged at each other. Estevan grasped his sword in both hands and swung it at Brooklyn, but he ducked down, lifted Estevan off his feet and threw him several feet away. After his impressive throw, Brooklyn hurried over to Lexington to check on him. But he was already on his feet by the time Brooklyn got there.

"Are you alright, Lex?"

"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting that."

The two looked over to where Estevan landed, only to see a net flying at them. They were unable to move fast enough to avoid the net wrapping around and entangling them. Estevan dropped the net launcher from his shoulder, grabbed his sword and ran towards the trapped gargoyles. _It's about to begin, _Estevan thought excitedly. He had originally planned to run towards the door, but here were two gargoyles helpless and trapped in a net. Easy targets to take out with but a swipe of a sword. The trapped gargoyles saw the intensity on Estevan's face grow as he looked down upon them and then raised his sword over his shoulder. But just as he was about to swing his sword down, Broadway flew down, landing his foot into Estevan's chest and knocking him to the floor. Then while Broadway hurried over to help his clan brothers out of the net, Estevan got back up to his feet and put his sword back in his scabbard and then checked in his weapons bag.

He had only three gas grenades left. Estevan didn't have time to curse himself for being so unprepared for this showdown. Instead he ran to the door, leaving the now empty duffel bag behind and went inside the castle, with the three gargoyles in hot pursuit. Estevan looked around the open spaced room and spotted three elevators on the other end of said room. Estevan ran over to them and then pulled out his sword and used it to pry open the doors to the middle elevator. He knew he didn't have enough time to find the stairs or wait for the actual elevator. So he decided instead to travel down the shaft by the cable the elevator was held on until he got to an appropriate stopping point. Estevan checked behind him and saw that the three gargoyles he struggled with in the courtyard had been joined by the other gargoyles in the clan and were fast approaching him.

"Stop!" the big one called Goliath demanded. Instead of doing what the gargoyle ordered,

Estevan pulled the pin off one of his grenades and tossed it at the gargoyle clan. Then Estevan jumped over to the elevator cable and started sliding down as fast as he could. He let out cries of pain due to his hands being lacerated from the cable slide. As he slid down, he looked up to see that the two gargoyles, Goliath and Brooklyn were sliding after him and gaining fast. Now aside from his hands burning away from sliding against a metal cable, he was about to face the wrath of two very imposing monsters. Estevan sensed it was time for him to end his cable ride. Taking a leap of faith, Estevan jumped to a spot where the elevator would usually stop. He once again pulled out his sword and used it to pry open the doors just enough for him to slip through into the hallway. He went off to the right and looked for a door leading to a stairway. He took a moment to rip off two small pieces from his shirt and wrapped them around his bleeding hands.

Then Estevan found a door with a sign that said, 'STAIRWAY', along with a map showing the different levels of the building posted next to it. Estevan quickly scanned the map as best he could. It was hard to tell how many floors he past when he was sliding down the elevator cable or how far down he had to travel to get to the floor the helicopter pad was on. But Estevan's best guess was that he was either fifteen or twenty feet above it, which meant he had to move fast. His urgency was added onto when he heard the elevator doors being forced open even more then they already were. Estevan quickly opened the door to the stairwell and hurried down the steps as fast as possible. Down, down and down he ran, faster and faster still. Estevan was in self preservation mode, especially now since his attack plans were all out the window and now his intended prey had become the hunters. His blood and adrenaline started pumping even harder when he heard the sounds of the pursuing gargoyles' feet coming for him.

"You will not escape!" Goliath called out.

The words echoed through the stairwell for anyone to hear. As the chase through the stairwell continued, Estevan felt himself starting to feel the beginnings of exhaustion from everything he's put his body through. His fear was beginning to rise. If he didn't escape from this building or the gargoyles before fatigue overtook him, or it could mean big trouble for him. Estevan continued to flee from the gargoyles, while also trying to remember how many flights of stairs he walked down and how many more he had left. He realized that this next upcoming floor may be the right one, either that or he had to go down five more flights of stairs. Estevan had to make a quick decision on whether or not to go through this next door or pass it by and go down five more floors, knowing either choice could be the difference between freedom and capture...or worse. Ultimately, he decided to take a chance on this next floor. So Estevan ran up to and opened the door and ran into the hall. He then looked for and found a map showing the layout of the building like the one he saw before. Then he saw next to the building map a map meant to navigate just the floor. Estevan was overjoyed to see that this was the floor the helipad was on and the map even showed how to get there from where he was. Estevan hustled through the halls to get to what he considered his salvation. In other words, the helicopter resting on the helipad. In the middle of his sprint through the halls, Estevan stopped when he realized something.

"It's too easy," Estevan whispered to himself.

Sure there were gargoyles chasing him. But on the last floor he was on, on the stairway and now here in the halls, there were no security forces. No guards, no alarms, no automatic weapons or futuristic sci-fi security systems, nothing like that. Estevan had been expecting a billion dollar man like David Xanatos to have those kind of things all over his building. But so far, no such things had been revealed to Estevan as of yet.

"But why?" Estevan whispered to himself.

He began looking around expecting to at least spot some security cameras. But his search was cut short when he heard footsteps running in his direction. Estevan looked behind him to see the big gargoyle known as Goliath turn the same corner he had earlier, followed close behind by Brooklyn.

"Give it up, chump!" Brooklyn demanded.

Estevan ran as fast as he could down the hall towards the helipad, at least that's what Estevan remembered the floor map saying. As he ran through the halls, Estevan also heard the gargoyles hurrying after him, grunting and growling as they pursued the intruder of their home. Estevan stole a quick glance behind him to see the gargoyles had dropped down to their hands and feet and were now running after him like bloodhounds chasing wild game. And they were catching up fast. Estevan thought quickly on what to do. When the next opening to a hallway came up, Estevan turned the corner and kicked open one of the doors that laid across the walls and then quickly ducked into the room across from it and gently shut the door, keeping it open just enough for him to see out into the hall. He saw as the two gargoyles turned the corner and looked in the room Estevan opened the door to.

"Ducking in here to try and escape was a really stupid idea, trespasser!" said Brooklyn as he poked his head around the room.

"There's no other way out of here except through this door," Brooklyn added as he turned on the light to the room.

Estevan swung the door of the room he was in wide open and ran at the two gargoyles, ramming his body into Goliath's back and sending him crashing into Brooklyn. The two gargoyles crashed into the room, after which Estevan pulled out a gas grenade, took its pin off and threw it into the room with the gargoyles and then shut the door to the room. Then Estevan continued running down the halls to get to the helipad. He was maybe a few yards away when he heard the sound of a door being smashed open, followed by the annoyed and angry roars of the gargoyles echoing through the halls. As the sounds of the two angry and growling gargoyles' pursuit got louder and louder, Estevan finally found a door he was sure would lead out to the helipad. When he opened the door, indeed it lead him out onto the helipad. And there waiting for him was the helicopter, in its place like it was when he saw it before on the roof of the next building over.

Estevan knew the bare basics of flying any kind of aircraft and was usually good about figuring out the differences between the kinds of crafts like choppers and planes, as well as their different models. Estevan ran for the helicopter, absolutely sure he was going to make it, to escape. However, Estevan stopped running when he heard the door that led into the Eyrie Building open up. He turned around to see the two gargoyles had followed him out to the helipad and were now charging towards him. Goliath leaped into the air and it seemed like he'd end up tackling Estevan. This was not to be as Estevan jumped to his right, avoiding the incoming gargoyle who landed on his hands and feet while Estevan manged to land in a roll that brought him back up to his feet. Brooklyn ran up to Goliath's side while Estevan continued running to the helicopter.

"Are you alright, Goliath?"

"I'm fine. I just want to catch this slippery little intruder before he can escape." Estevan

looked behind him and saw that not only were the first two gargoyles chasing him, but now behind them coming through the door were the other members of the gargoyle clan, minus the dog/gargoyle hybrid beast.

"Stop! Why did you invade our homes?!" Angela called out.

But she didn't get her answer. Instead, Estevan pulled out his last gas grenade and threw it at the gargoyles before making his way into the helicopter. He climbed into the pilot's sit and started up the chopper. The rotors slowly started spinning, picking up speed with each spin until they were spinning at top speed. Estevan grabbed hold of the control throttle and used it to lift the helicopter off the landing pad and began flying it out into open air. Estevan was about to let out a sigh of relief when all of sudden he felt the helicopter get rocked by something slamming into its side. First Estevan jumped out of his seat in shock, then he looked his left to see the glowing eyed, bared fangs face of Goliath looking in on him through the window. The impact from Goliath's plunge into the chopper's side had created some turbulence, sending the chopper flying and spinning out of control. Estevan despite his heart racing, grabbed the throttle and tried desperately to regain control of the chopper. As Estevan wrestled for control, Goliath made his way to the front of the chopper.

Estevan heard the sounds being made as Goliath dug his claws into and crushed with his grasp the outer metal hull of the helicopter as he climbed. Estevan looked on in fear at the gargoyle hanging on the front of the helicopter, looking in right at him. Goliath pulled his fist back and slammed it through the glass. Estevan let out a small scream of fear and ducked down as both broken pieces of glass and a gargoyle hand came flying at him. Goliath tried reaching for Estevan, but was only able to grab and rip off the back of his shirt collar. Realizing this wasn't working, Goliath pulled his arm out of the hole in the glass. Estevan peeked up just in time to see Goliath smash first his head, then his entire upper body through the glass, causing a strong gust of wind to blow into the chopper and forced Estevan back into his seat. Goliath pulled himself into the helicopter and closer to Estevan.

"It is over, human. Give up now while you still live. I will spare your life," said Goliath.

Estevan's response came in the form of his foot kicking into Goliath's face, both hurting and surprising the gargoyle. Goliath shook it off as best he could and looked back to Estevan, only to see the desperate human's foot again kick into his foot. Goliath let out a scream of frustration and swung his fist across Estevan's face, dazing the young man. Estevan reached under his seat looking for anything he could use as a weapon. What he pulled out was a wrench. Estevan swung the tool across Goliath's face, dazing him for a moment, giving Estevan enough time to roll out of his seat and move towards the back of the helicopter. Once Goliath got a hold of himself, he started after Estevan. It was at this moment the helicopter grazed the side of the building. The force from this knocked them both off their feet. As the two in distress got back to their feet, Goliath said, "Please, human, this is madness! I can get you out of here safe and sound. I can save you!"

"I'd rather take my chances in Hell then willingly let the likes of you put their hands on me!" Estevan spat out defiantly.

Estevan ran then slid across the floor, driving his body into Goliath's legs, knocking him down. Estevan crawled out from underneath the fallen gargoyle and looked around for a parachute pack. Once he found it, Estevan put it on and then went to one of the doors, opened it and jumped out. Goliath meanwhile let himself get blown out the hole where the glass use to be and into the open air. His wings were able to spread out and catch a draft, allowing Goliath to glide away from the out of control helicopter falling to Earth.

Meanwhile, Estevan was letting himself fall, trying to time when would be a good point to open his parachute. He needed to get enough space between him and the falling helicopter so that it wouldn't crash into him and when he landed, he could move out of its way before it hit the ground. Estevan tried to look back up at the helicopter, but was unable to due to the force of his free fall. _Guess this is gonna have to be a judgment call. Well, here it goes! _Estevan released his parachute and let it drop him down safely to Earth. Once he landed, Estevan didn't have time to rest as he looked up and saw that the helicopter was now falling down fast towards his landing spot. Without wasting a word, he pulled off his parachute pack and ran then leaped into an alley way as the helicopter fell to the ground and exploded into several pieces. Estevan peeked out at the burning inferno of debris, viewing the results of his escape plan. _ESCAPE!_ Estevan remembered that he was fleeing from the gargoyles who were more then likely still after him. With this in mind, Estevan began running as fast as he could away from the Eyrie Building, wanting to get out of the area surrounding it as fast as possible. So he ran out into the darkness of the Manhattan night.

* * *

**Now for those of you who are reading this chapter around the time it was first posted, you'll realize it was posted the same day as the previous chapter. This is because it was only suppose to be 1 chapter. Crazy, right? I realized while writing the beginning of the hall chase sequence that I had enough material for 2 separate chapters. So I separated them. Fair warning, the chapters that have action sequences in them are most likely to run longer then those that don't. I'll try to keep it under 4 thousand words plus and avoid going to 5 thousand and beyond when that happens. Be sure to leave a review after reading. Give me your honest thoughts. And if I made some kind of spelling or grammar error that I missed while editing this chapter, you just let me know. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off. **


	8. Chapter 8

Estevan ran and ran and ran. And then for a change pace, he ran faster. He zigged and zagged through alleyways, ran across streets to get to those alleyways. Estevan did everything he could to get away from the Eyrie Building where he had only his second encounter ever with the winged beasts of the night known as gargoyles. He snuck into the building owned by billionaire business tycoon, David Xanatos hoping to find and kill them. Well he certainly found them. But due to his fear and shock overcoming his desire for revenge and being terribly under prepared for a battle against a whole gargoyle clan, Estevan Martinez was forced to retreat. Now here he was running around alleyways trying to put as much distance between him and the gargoyles' home as possible. Finally after running around, jumping over fences and avoiding as many people in the street as he could, Estevan finally stopped in front of a building and bent down, pressing his hands against his legs as he sucked in deep breaths of air and then exhaled them. Estevan slowly lowered himself to a sit and continued his heavy breathing. As his breaths began to get easier and softer, Estevan took the time to berate himself.

_You moron! How could you've been so stupid and cowardly?! Your stupidly went into that situation while you were horrendously under brought one gun, a single net launcher and a sword?! A sword, really?! _Estevan tried to tell himself that he didn't know he would need more. That he had to pack light because he had no idea what the type of enviorment would be. But his thoughts didn't relent. _Then you shouldn't have rushed in like you did, you idiot! You case the place first, then properly prepare yourself for the mission, then that's when you go in for the kill! But instead, you freaking botched it all to shit! You let your lust vengeance blind your common sense! You're a fool! You're a loser! A freaking loser! _Estevan's head kept filling up with voices in his heads telling him of just how badly he messed up until it was too much and brought Estevan to his breaking point. He lifted his head and hands to the sky and let out a scream of agony that echoed out over some distance.

Then Estevan dropped his head and rested his arms on top of his knees. He realized what a great mistake he made screaming out like that. He still had a clan of gargoyles most likely looking for him. One or all of them could've heard that scream and were probably heading towards him at that very moment. Estevan felt a small drop of water on his head. It was quickly followed by another drop, which was then followed by several droplets. Estevan lifted his head enough to see that it had began to rain. He also noticed that he had sat down across the street from Central Park. Of all places his random running could have taken him, it ended up being across from the gigantic body of trees and grassland with a big lake in the middle that was the suspected of being the killing grounds of the gargoyles. But Estevan knew this was not the case. That the gargoyles were innocent of the murder charges. So what, did this mean there was some other creature of equal or greater monstrosity that was stalking the park? Whatever the answer was, it didn't matter to Estevan at this moment. Despite the gargoyles' proven innocence, he still despised them. Because while they may not be killing anyone in Central Park, he knew for certain their kind was responsible for his parents' death those fifteen years ago. And he still blamed them all for what happened that night. But even that didn't matter anymore.

Despite his years of training and preparing for his encounter with them for so long, he failed. He rushed in almost completely under prepared, blinded by anger ande lust for redemption and in the end the gargoyles had him on the run. He never really came close to having them on the ropes. Not even when he had two of them caught in a net. There was another one right there and ready to stop him. Estevan slightly shifted his sitting position when he realized he still had his sword. It was still tucked in its scabbard, the strap of which was still wrapped around him. He pulled the strap off over his body and then held the scabbard in front of him and glared at it. Why did he waste his money buying this sword. It turned out to be almost completely worthless in his fight against his winged adversaries. The stupid thing about it was that he bought the piece of scrap metal based only on a feeling like he was fulfilling some sort of hokey fate or destiny by picking it up for himself. But it turned out to be nonsense. Something Estevan found out the hard way. Estevan tossed the sword to the side in discuss. But then he realized he couldn't just leave it there when a bunch of police are driving and walking up and down the interior and exterior of Central Park. If one of them were to pass by and see Estevan with the sword, he would become suspicious and most likely walk up to Estevan and start questioning him. Something Estevan really wanted to avoid, especially at this moment in time. Estevan had to dispose of the sword. To get rid of it, put it somewhere it would be out of his possession and he'd never have to see it again. Plus the cops probably wouldn't give him a hard time. He looked into the alley he just came from and spotted a trash can. That was where Estevan would stuff the inferior weapon.

He got up onto his feet, grabbing his sword as he rose. Then he started walking into the alley, towards the trash can. But before he could get too far, Estevan heard something behind him. He turned around to see two teenagers across the street. It was hard to make out either of the teens' features through the darkness of night, despite the visual aid of a dimly lit street lamp. But from the best Estevan could see, it looked like on of them was a boy and the other a girl. _Maybe a young couple out for a night on the town? Too bad the weather turned against them. I wonder...if I hadn't chosen the bitter life on the road chasing an as I found out near impossible quest for vengeance? _These thoughts went through Estevan's head as he looked over at the two unsuspecting young adolescent. But then he looked at them with alarm when he saw the two kids entering Central Park, despite official police signs that said to keep out. Estevan may have been hidden from humanity and kept to himself for most of his life, but he knew it was his duty as a human being to help out other people.

"Hey!" Estevan called out.

But the teens didn't seem to hear him or was just ignoring him. Estevan forgot about throwing his sword away and lugged it with him as he ran across the street and into Central Park after those two teenagers. He moved as fast as he could, moving deeper into the park. But he had lost track of the teenagers almost as soon as he entered the park. And no matter how fast he moved or which direction he went, Estevan couldn't seem to find them again.

"Hey, you two kids that ran in here! You might wanna run back out! I don't know what rock you've been living under not to hear this, but there have been a lot of murders in and all over this particular park. Plus there are a bunch of police officers running around ready to arrest or shoot dead anyone they see. So you might wanna leave."

But then Estevan stopped yelling out when he realized the things he was trying to warn the teens about could happen to him too. He could run into a cop any moment. Or worse...he could run into the killer or killers. Suddenly Estevan was starting to feel stressed out as several questions ran through his head. How deep into the park did he run? Could he remember which way he came in? Would he run into a cop or a murderer before he got back out of the park? Would he come across the dismembered bodies of those teens or another of the killer or killers' victims? Estevan in the fragile state of mind he was in already combined with his current predicament was to much for him as he finally reached his breaking point and off in a random direction. He didn't know where he was going or when he should stop, but right now he knew he just wanted to keep moving. Estevan frantically looked around for anything that might be a way out of the park. This kept him from looking in the direction he was going which meant he was unable to see the object in front of him until it was too late and he ran into it. The impact from the collision sent Estevan falling to the ground.

Estevan gasped for breath as he rolled from side to side. His breaths started to slow and his heavy breaths were replaced by low moans of aggravation. But then he ceased making any noise or movements when he heard heavy animal-like breathing. He felt them as well. Hot heavy breaths blowing across his face. Then came the sound of low, very vicious sounding growls. Each with greater volume then the last. Estevan slowly looked up and saw that what he had ran into was a huge form that stood tall, looking down on him. At first it was hard to make out what the thing in front of him was, except for a few stray pieces of fur. Then the rain stopped and the clouds began to clear, allowing the moon to shine down and revealed the huge creature. It was revealed that its gray fur covered every inch of its large, muscular body, with powerful looking arms and animal-like legs to match. Long, sharp fangs protruded out of its snout as it snarled down at Estevan. All that along with its tail, pointed ears and yellow eyes all revealed in the moonlight proved what Estevan had suspected since he laid eyes on the monster towering over him. Estevan had discovered that the killer of Central Park was the wolf that walks like a man, a mythical creature of the night from European folklore. Estevan has just encountered...a werewolf.

Estevan moved as fast as he could as he rolled out of the way just as the werewolf lunged at the spot he was laying. Estevan stopped rolling and got to his feet. He realized just how close the wolf had come to tearing him to pieces when he saw a fresh tear in his shirt. The unearthly howl of the angry wolfman made Estevan turn the other way and start running as fast as he could to get away from the monster. Unfortunately for Estevan though, he is unable to spot one of the park's paths that could lead him out into the city. Even more unfortunate was that the werewolf was coming up right behind him at a speed Estevan couldn't hope to match. Instead of trying, Estevan waited until the werewolf was close enough to attempt a leap. After which, Estevan rolled out of the way. The werewolf leapt for him again and just like before, Estevan got out of the way in time. Estevan positioned himself in front of a tree and waited for the werewolf to leap for him again. But this time the were beast didn't leap like a wild animal. It stopped, took in a deep breath, let it out, dropped onto all fours and slowly started prowling towards Estevan. Step by step and inch by inch, the werewolf kept getting closer towards its prey at a slow but intentional pace. As the growling, snarling monster got closer to Estevan, the scared young man remembered he was still holding a scabbard and sword in his hand. The werewolf started moving a little faster when it was little more than a few feet in front of Estevan. It stretched its arms out in front of its body, reaching its clawed hands for Estevan who swung his scabbard across the werewolf's face. The were beast stood up straight and grabbed at its snout where it got hit. Estevan hurried to the side of the tree and grabbed a long branch and pulled it back as far as he could. The werewolf sniffed the air and then let out a howl before it started running after Estevan. He timed the wolf's run, waiting until it was in the right spot for him to let go of the branch, sending it whipping into the wolf's face.

The wolf let out a yelp of surprise as it was flung backwards to the ground by the tree branch. Estevan wasted no time running away as fast as he could to get away from the werewolf. Estevan seemed to be in the clear as he was unable to see the werewolf coming up behind him. But he learned quickly that this was not the case. For instead he came face to face with a totally different werewolf. This one was much smaller. It almost had the build of a real wolf and seemed more natural on four legs then the previous werewolf. Also instead of gray fur and yellow eyes, this wolf had white fur and blue eyes. This werewolf didn't seem to be in a hurry to try and hunt or kill Estevan though. No, this werewolf seemed more curious if nothing else. Like maybe a puppy meeting someone new. At first this seemed to lull Estevan into a more comfortable state. But this did not last as a much larger, black furred werewolf leaped out of nowhere and came up to Estevan's side and lifted him off his feet, pressing him into the side of a tree. Estevan could tell by how high he was off the ground that this werewolf was even bigger then the first werewolf he encountered.

As the wolf pressed Estevan harder against the tree, it moved its snout closer to Estevan's face, enough so that its breath blew into his face and allowed Estevan to see that this wolf's eyes were glowing red. Estevan closed his eyes not wanting to see it coming when the wolf finally decided to finish him off. Which seemed momentarily as the wolf let out a loud roar before aiming its teeth for Estevan's neck. This act of savagery however never came to past as a huge figure fell from the sky and smashed into the werewolf, sending it rolling away with what was left of the front of Estevan's shirt still in its hand. Estevan himself fell to the ground in a sit down landing. He shook his head and let his eyes clear up to see that it was no longer the werewolf standing in front of him In its place was the also imposing form of the gargoyle clan leader called Goliath.

* * *

**Alright, here's another one that was divided into 2 chapters because it was running too long. So because of that, the next chapter should follow close behind. But since a lot of you skipped over Chapter 6 because I posted it on the same day as Chapter 7, I probably wont put Chapter 9 up until tomorrow. As always, feel free to let me know if there are any spelling or grammar errors on this chapter. My spell check hasn't been working quite right lately. Also, yeah, probably the worst kept secret about this story, other then the fact that my OC really doesn't like gargoyles. Yes, the Moonstalkers are actually werewolves. I've always wanted to do a gargoyles vs. werewolves story ever since I first signed up on this site. And I hope you all like the concept too. This chapter and the next are 2 of the main reasons I even wanted to do this story. Whenever I thought of the story, the images in this chapter and the next were the first things that came into my head. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off.**


	9. Chapter 9

Estevan was stunned to find he had just been saved intentionally or not by one of the gargoyles he was locked in combat with earlier. This particular gargoyle was the clan leader who goes by the very fitting name of Goliath. The gargoyle shifted his gaze from the werewolf to Estevan, inspecting the young man to make sure he was uninjured. Then Goliath shifted his gaze back to the werewolf as it got back to his feet and let out angry growls. Goliath let out roars of his own as his eyes started to glow, letting the werewolf know he would not be intimidated. Thus took the werewolf by surprise, shown clearly in its facial expressions. Obviously this wolf was not use to coming across creature not only of possible equal power, but one that also had no fear.

But still, it wasn't about to step down from any living thing that crossed its path. The werewolf let out a battle howl as it charged at Goliath. He in turn let out a battle roar before charging towards the werewolf. The two great creatures of the night slammed into each other and wrapped their arms around each other trying to get the better leverage in their struggle. It even got to the point where they started digging their claws in each others upper arms and shoulder blades. But neither of them seemed to be able to get an advantage over each other. While the werewolf was bigger, Goliath was smart enough to drop part of his guard long enough to counter whatever advantage the werewolf was trying to get.

Estevan's gaze shifted when he heard the smaller, white furred werewolf howl out in protest. He saw it start to run at the two warring night monsters with the intent to hit Goliath from behind. However, it was stopped early on by Lexington landing hard on its back and placing his hands over the werewolf's eyes.

"Guess who," Lexington said playfully.

The werewolf thrashed around wildly like an out of control rodeo bull as it snarled and growled and snapped its jaws trying to get to the gargoyle on its back.

"No, I'm not Lon Chaney," said Lexington.

The werewolf bucked extra hard and sent Lexington's body flying into the air. The small gargoyle screamed out in surprise, but because he still had his hands wrapped around the wolf's head, he was able to fall back down on its back.

"No, I'm not Jacob Black either," said Lexington as he wrapped his legs around the werewolf, trying to keep from being sent into the air again.

Eventually the werewolf started rolling around on the ground trying still to get Lexington off it. He tried to hold on, but eventually it became to much for him to bare and his legs unwrapped from around the monster's body. The werewolf got back up to its feet and started running, dragging Lexington along since he somehow manged to keep his hands wrapped around the wolf beast's head. Lexington screamed out as he got dragged along the ground. He did his best to try and get one of his legs over the werewolf's back. He managed to do so and used this leverage to get himself back onto the werewolf's back.

"Alright, joyride over!" Lexington said before he stood up on his feet and pushed himself off the werewolf's back and flipping over its head.

When he landed, Lexington pulled the werewolf up and over by its head and slammed it to the ground in front of him. Meanwhile, Estevan shook himself out of his state of shock and astonishment from the sight of gargoyles fighting werewolves long enough for him to realize now would probably be the best time to escape. Estevan walked around the tree he had been pressed up against earlier...only to find himself face to face with another werewolf! This one was about as tall as Estevan was, around 6 ft. 4 and had brown fur and blue eyes.

"Get down!" Estevan heard someone call out.

He and the werewolf looked up to see Angela charging down on the scene. Estevan ducked in time for Angela to swoop past him and kick her foot into the werewolf's chest, sending it sliding away across the ground. Angela turned around and help Estevan to his feet.

"Are you alright?" she asked the guy she just rescued.

Estevan looked at Angela's face and saw that her eyes were glowing red. Just like the gargoyle from the night his parents were killed. Suddenly Estevan was no longer looking at Angela, but at the partly hidden gargoyle from that horrible night. Seeing only its outline and its glowing red eyes. Suddenly he was no longer in Central Park, but in his burning house, with his dead parents lying behind him in a pool of blood. Estevan cried out in agony before he flashed back to reality. He shoved Angela back and yelled, "Get away from me!"

Then he turned and ran away from her.

"Wait, I just wanted to..." Angela was cut off by the brown furred werewolf tackling her from behind, taking her to the ground. During their struggle, Angela managed to turn and face the werewolf and they started rolling across the ground trying to press an advantage. The roll ended with Angela on top, who then punched her fist into and then across the werewolf's face. The werewolf then used its great leg strength to push Angela off and over it, into the ground. The werewolf quickly rolled up to its feet and clasped its hands together, clubbing them down on Angela's back. Out of nowhere, Broadway landed behind the brown furred werewolf and clutched it in a full nelson.

"Leave her alone!" Broadway demanded with furious anger in his voice.

Angela got back to her feet and started throwing body shots into the werewolf's rib and stomach area. After ten or so punches, Angela picked the werewolf up by the legs while Broadway still held it by its arms. The gargoyle couple then swung the werewolf back and forth before releasing it into the air and letting it land against the side of a tree trunk. "Are you okay, Angie?" Broadway asked Angela, concern apparent in his voice.

"I' am fine, my darling. Right now, we must help the others," Angela responded.

"Right," Broadway agreed.

Meanwhile, during his run to get away from Angela, Estevan had managed to get himself right in front of Lexington and the white werewolf. Lexington was caught by surprise when he saw who it was they were rescuing.

"You!" Lexington said as he point to Estevan.

This momentary distraction cost the gargoyle when the werewolf rammed its body into his and sent Lexington flying into the side of a tree. The white wolf turned its attention to Estevan and started stalking towards him. Estevan's fear was turned back up as he tried to back away from the werewolf. But he ended up tripping over something and falling to the ground. He looked and saw that it was his sword which he had dropped when the black wolf grabbed him. He looked back up to the white wolf when it started growling at him. The wolf saw the fear in Estevan's face and then did something somewhat out of character for a werewolf. It stopped growling and snarling and its expression turned soft. Almost as if it didn't really want to hurt Estevan. This left Estevan confused as all hell, not knowing what to do next. But then the werewolf's face went back to its hard, angry snarl in a moments time. Yet it still had that look in its eyes that said it didn't want to hurt Estevan. Yet while the rest of its face and body action said, 'kill, kill, kill'. The werewolf charged at Estevan, closing in for the kill.

As a defensive reflex, Estevan pulled his sword out of its scabbard and held it in front of him. The wolf wrapped its paw-like hands around the blade to push it aside. But something happened. It howled out in pain and agony. Estevan opened his eyes and saw to his shock that there was smoke flowing out of the werewolf's hands that were still wrapped around the blade of his sword. After several seconds went by, the werewolf managed to peel its paws off the sword's blade and ran away, yelping in pain. Estevan got back up to his feet and looked at the sword. He saw the black burn marks where the wolf had grabbed the blade. Suddenly Estevan heard the sound of something landing right behind. He turned around and lifted his sword. He heard the clang of metal hitting metal before he saw that his sword had struck the short sword of the elderly gargoyle named Hudson.

"I wouldn't try to match blades with me if I were you, lad. True, yours may be bigger and you may be younger. But trust me when I say I've been a swordsmen a hell of a lot longer then you have," the gargoyle said to the on edge human.

Hudson looked past Estevan to see that the white furred werewolf had returned and was running then leaping for Estevan's back.

"Look out!" Hudson shouted as he pushed Estevan aside, making the wolf colide with him instead.

As Hudson fell onto his back, he also plunged his sword into the werewolf's underbelly, aided by the force of the two's landing. Hudson then kicked his foot up into the werewolf's body and sent it flying over him. Hudson got back up and spotted Estevan not to far away. Then he and Estevan both looked to see the white werewolf's injury from Hudson's sword seal up. Except for the blood streaks in the fur, it was almost as if the wound was never there. The wolf got up on two feet and started growling at Hudson, who stood ready for round two, his sword stretched out in front of him. As Estevan watched from behind Hudson's back as the werewolf approached, he noticed that its palms were still burned from when it grabbed the blade of Estevan's sword. _But why? _Estevan thought to himself. _When the gargoyle stabbed it, the wound healed almost instantly. So why does it still have the burns it got from my sword? How did my sword even burn it in the first place? _Estevan looked down at his sword, inspecting the weapon, particularly the spots the wolf grabbed a hold of.

The answer to all of Estevan's questions hit him like a ton of bricks. _SILVER! My sword's made of silver. And it has been said that werewolves can't seem to stand silver at all._ Estevan knew right then what his next course of action was. He stepped out from behind Hudson and stood in front of the werewolf, holding his sword out at it. The werewolf stopped in its tracks and dropped down to all fours. Hudson stared at the scene transpiring in front of him with absolute shock. The wolf started to whimper and stepped backwards as Estevan began to step forward.

"Get out of here!" Estevan shouted out as he thrusts his sword at the werewolf.

The night beast let out a yelp before turning away and running off as fast as it could.

"Well done, lad. I knew from the moment I saw you that you were some kind of brave warrior," Hudson complemented as he handed Estevan his scabbard and put away his own short sword.

As Estevan placed his scabbard's strap over his shoulder, he found that he was confused by the events transpiring around him. It would appear the intimidating gargoyles he had intended earlier in the night to kill were coming to his aid and protecting him from the even more monstrous werewolves.

Meanwhile, Goliath and the black furred werewolf were still wrestling with each other to try and get the upper hand. The two titans of the nighttime world had their hands clasped together in a Greco roman knuckle lock, pressing each other hard to get the better leverage. Goliath was smart enough to realize that he and the werewolf were to evenly matched in this kind of strength test and needed to find a way to break it off. Goliath began twisting his right hand out of the werewolf's grasp until it was completely free. Wasting no time, the gargoyles leader slammed his right fist twice into the werewolf's rib area. The wolfman groaned in pain, feeling the pain from the blows spread all through its rib, stomach and lower back areas. The black furred werewolf didn't have long to agonize though as Goliath's fist slammed into the side of its head. He followed up by pulling the werewolf towards him as he also drove his knee into the were beast's rib area. Then Goliath let out a loud roar as he grabbed the werewolf's arm and dragged him into an over the shoulder judo-like throw. But instead of taking the werewolf down to the ground, Goliath sent it sailing through the air before it landed hard on the ground. Goliath didn't want to give his downed opponent any opportunity to gain an advantage. So he started running towards the were beast to continue his assault.

He never saw the gray furred werewolf that first chased Estevan sneaking up behind him. By the time he found out about it until it was too late when the gray furred werewolf scratched his claws down Goliath's upper back. The gargoyle groaned and growled in pain and anger as he felt those sharp claws scrapping on his back. The werewolf kept it up by grabbing Goliath under his armpits, lifted him up into the air and slammed him down to the ground on the back of his head and neck. The werewolf looked down on the fallen gargoyle and howled in his face to mock him. But it was cut off by Brooklyn slamming his clasped together fists on top of the werewolf's head as he flew by.

"Broadway!" the beaked gargoyle called out.

Broadway looked to his friend who was gliding through the air at the moment. Broadway threw the brown furred werewolf he had been fighting over to his mate, Angela, who wrapped her arm around its neck for a sleeper hold. Broadway then jumped up, flapped his wings for a little bit until he was high enough up glide alongside Brooklyn.

"What's up?" asked Broadway.

"You see that fur ball?" Brooklyn asked as he pointed to the gray wolf.

"Yeah," Broadway replied.

"You think he might like to see a double whammy?" Brooklyn asked with a sly smile on his face.

Broadway returned his friend's smile and said, "You're on."

The two gargoyles high fived each other before swooping down towards the gray werewolf. The flew off in opposite directions and swung around until they were flying at the werewolf from both its left and right. The werewolf looked to both sides to see Brooklyn and Broadway flying at it. The were beast let out a small growl as if to say, "Oh, no," right before the two gargoyles slammed into it. Brooklyn and Broadway got up and gave each other looks as if they were trying to tell each other what to do without speaking. Luckily, both understood each other and worked together to lift the gray werewolf up over their heads sort of like a double military press. Then the two used their strength to toss the werewolf away into the black furred werewolf, who had just gotten back to his feet. After this, Brooklyn turned his attention to his fallen leader, running over to Goliath's side with Broadway following close behind.

"Are you okay, Goliath?" Brooklyn asked as he helped his clan leader back on his feet.

"I'm fine. Just a little bruised...and very angry," Goliath said as he bared his fangs and his eyes started glowing.

Goliath let out a wild roar as he ran at the two fallen werewolves. The gray and black furred wolf creatures used each other as support to get back to their feet. They looked off to their sides to see Goliath running at them like a freight train. Before either of them could do anything, Goliath crashed into both their lower abdomens, tackling them both to the ground. The black wolf groaned and rolled around a little, but got a stomp to the face for his troubles. Goliath grabbed the gray werewolf and was just about to lay a punch into his face...when he was interrupted by flashing lights shining from some place not far away.

"This is the police! All of you stop what you are doing, get down on the ground and put your hands over your heads!"

The voice was projected over a megaphone. The black furred werewolf smacked Goliath in the face before pulling the gray werewolf away. The gray furred werewolf then let out a howl, calling to the rest of his pack. The brown and white furred werewolves came running at their leader's call and the whole pack took off into the night.

"They're getting away!" Lexington said as he pointed in the direction the werewolf pack took off in.

"Aye, lad. Something we should think about doing ourselves," said Hudson.

"Agreed. Hudson, Brooklyn, you two grab the boy and head back for the castle. Everybody else, move," said Goliath before he took off for the air.

Estevan's eyes opened in alarm.

"Wait, what?!" asked Estevan asked.

Hudson grabbed Estevan's scabbard out of his hand and said, "Don't make it any harder then it has to be, lad. I strongly suggest you come quietly."

"I'm not going anywhere with you, monster!"

But Estevan felt one of his arms being grabbed by Brooklyn as he flew by, while Hudson came up and grabbed the other arm before flapping his wings to get up high enough in the air to glide.

"Put me down, you flying freaks! Put me down! Put me down!" Estevan yelled as the gargoyles carried him off along side their fellow clan members into the night sky.

* * *

**I freaking loved writing this fight scene! Sincerely, I had such a good time and I look forward to the next one. I hope you all enjoyed it too. Let me know with a review. Or write one anyways if I made a spelling or grammar error or any kind of error like that. That way, I can fix it and make myself look like a better writer then I actually am. Yes, you now know my evil plan. #cackles as lightning strikes# One last thing. Remember how I said in the author's note of the first chapter how I said I would incorporate Angela and Broadway's 3 kids into the story? Well, I'm letting you all know now that I've changed my mind about that. Sorry to go back on my word, but this is my final decision on the subject. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off. **

**Disclaimer: I still don't own the franchise that is Gargoyles, as it still belongs to Disney and Greg Weisman. **


	10. Chapter 10

Estevan landed on the cold stone ground of the castle on top of the Eyrie Building with a loud thud after his two gargoyle escorts let go of his arms a few feet above the ground. Estevan didn't have a whole lot of time to dwell on his pain thought, because he heard animalistic growls approaching him. He looked to see the gargoyle dog called Bronx stalking towards him like a hunter cornering its prey. Estevan started crawling backwards away from the strange hybrid beast when Brooklyn landed right next to him and lifted him up off the ground by his throat. Estevan's arms and legs flailed wildly in the air before he finally gave up and instead grabbed at Brooklyn's hand.

"Who the hell are you?! Why did you break into our home and attack us?!" Brooklyn demanded angrily.

Estevan felt his strangler tighten the grip on his throat as Brooklyn gritted his teeth and snarled at the man he held up in the air. Hudson landed a few feet behind Brooklyn and Bronx, followed closely behind by the remaining gargoyles. Goliath rushed over and touched his hand upon Brooklyn's shoulder.

"Let him go, Brooklyn. We must handle this in a civilized way," said Goliath.

"Civilized? Was he acting so civil when he tried to kill us?"

"Yes, I know, Brooklyn, but listen. We need to find out why he was attacking us. And to me, the best way to do it is by talking it out in a calm and collective way. But we can't do that when we use acts of hostility, like squeezing on someone's neck."

Brooklyn looked from Estevan to Goliath and then back to Estevan. Then he finally relented and said, "Fine," before releasing Estevan's neck.

Estevan tried to land on his feet, but was unable to get proper footing and instead fell onto his backside. He tried to stand up, but was stopped when Bronx stepped forward and let out several viscous growls, warning him to stay down. A warning Estevan obliged by staying down. Goliath knelt down beside Bronx and to that same extent in front of Estevan as he gently placed his hand on the top of Bronx's head and gently petted it.

"Easy, Bronx. Easy now, boy," Goliath said in a soft and comforting voice.

The clan leader's words and soft pats on the head seemed to tame the gargoyle beast who changed from acting like a wild animal to little more then a puppy. Goliath responded with a kind and caring smile, something Estevan never thought he'd see from a gargoyle ever in his life.

"Good boy," Goliath said to his animal friend as Bronx laid down in a relaxed motion.

After that, Goliath shifted his stare to Estevan and his expression turned from a soft smile to a unthreatening but stern, serious and subtly intimidating look that a father would give their kids to let them know they were about to have an important conversation.

"Now look," said Goliath in a voice that only he has the will to command.

"I will not harm you. None of us will. But the fact of the matter is that you broke into our home, used dangerous weapons against us in battle, and caused serious property damage in an escape attempt when we try to question you. Yes, we did attack you, I admit. But we only did so in defense of our home, ourselves, and each other. But we're willing to look past all that happened between us if... you do two things. You tell us why you broke in and attack us and you promise not to do it again or tell anyone else about where we live."

Goliath waited for Estevan to answer. But he didn't. Instead he looked away from the gargoyle, the fear apparent on his face. But then like before the voice started to come into his head. _"Oh what, you're going turn into a frightened little wimp of a wussy? When you're intended targets are in front of you looking you right in the eye? For a second time?! I can't believe you! You've been all talk leading up to this moment and the last encounter you had with these winged freaks at these skyscraper! Now you're going to be a little scaredy ca..." _Estevan blocked out the voice in his head permanently. He was going to see to it that he would never even have to hear that voice again. Estevan turned back to look at Goliath with an expression of anger and hatred. He still refuse to speak, wanting the disgust and hate in his face to speak for him and wanting the gargoyle leader to feel every ounce of anger through that stare. Goliath's serious expression was then mixed with a small hint of surprise at the fury on Estevan's face. But the surprise past almost quick as it came.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist you answer my question. Why did you attack us?" said Goliath.

But Estevan still wouldn't talk. He just kept staring at Goliath with his same cold expression.

"Your brooding is pointless. I'm sure you want to get on with your life just as we want to get on with ours. Now please answer the question," said Goliath.

But Estevan did not say a thing.

"Answer the question," said Goliath, a little more force in his voice this time. Still nothing of the sort happened.

Goliath was starting to get agitated by this intruder's lack of cooperation. The other gargoyles who were all watching this chain of events transpire began to get annoyed as well, as was apparent by the looks on their faces. But it was up to this point where Brooklyn had decided he could take no more.

"Look, this isn't going anywhere!" Brooklyn let out in anger.

"Brooklyn..." Angela tried to chime in.

"No! I don't understand how you can still be patient with this kid, Goliath. Even after his attack earlier combined with this silent treatment crap he's pulling right now, you're still going easy on him," said Brooklyn in annoyance.

"I already told you why..."

"He tried to kill us, Goliath!"

When Brooklyn raised his voice to a shout, Goliath stood up straight and looked away from Estevan and got up in Brooklyn's face.

"Mind your tongue, Brooklyn. The stranger may be silent right now, but it's better then having one of my own clan members yelling at me," said Goliath.

Angela and Hudson got in between the two brooding gargoyles.

"Please, let's not fight amongst ourselves," Angela suggested.

"I'm with the lass. We shouldn't let a stranger make tension within our ranks," Hudson agreed.

The two brooders inhaled deep breaths and then exhaled them.

"My bad, Goliath."

"I too apologize, my friend... ,my brother."

The two shook hands and patted each other on the back.

"We heard someone shouting. What's going on?" asked Elisa Maza as she, David Xanatos, and his trusted assistant, Owen Burnett approached the interrogation scene.

"Seriously, you gargoyles are making enough noise to let all of Manhattan know you're up here. Surely it can't be as bad as all that," said Xanatos.

But then he stopped, as did the other newcomers when they saw Estevan Martinez laying back on the ground.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't our little intruder. You see, Owen? I told you they would catch him. It just took them a little bit."

"I see, sir. It appears you were correct."

"And you know what that means, Owen. Time to pay up."

Owen reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, pulled a five dollar bill out of his wallet, and handed it to Xanatos.

"Let me just point out, sir, while you may have been victorious in our five dollar wager, the boy still cost you a multimillion dollar helicopter," said Owen.

David Xanatos turned to Estevan and spoke.

"I'm afraid it's true, my dear trespasser. You did steal and then crash my helicopter. But then again, I guess you were eying it ever since you first swung over to my building and began climbing up the support beam next to my landing pad, weren't you?"

Estevan's eyes went wide with surprise.

"You knew all the time I was sneaking up and around this skyscraper?!" Estevan asked, the shock obvious in his voice.

"Aw, so it does speak," said Hudson.

"So it would seem. Yes, I've been watching you ever since you launched your hook and rope into one of the support beams. Though I can't be to upset despite the trouble and damage you've caused. It made for an amusing chase to watch and I have four other helicopters on the assemble line ready to take the place of the one you broke into, horribly piloted and eventually crashed."

Estevan just looked at Xanatos for a little bit, not sure how to respond.

"The life a man like me leads can at times be either unexpected or very boring, depending on what day or night it is. Tonight was both. Unexpected that someone actually tried to break in by scaling the wall of my building and boring enough that I just had to pull back my security measures and watch him get chased by my rather unusual room mates," Xanatos explained.

The gargoyles, Elisa and Estevan just stared at this man who just revealed he allowed all this to happen just because.

"You let all that happened when it could've easily been avoided?" asked a now very agitated Goliath.

"Oh, don't get your wings in a bunch over it, Goliath. I'll make it up to you all by lowering your rent," Xanatos simply joked off.

Goliath growled a little. Xanatos may have called off their blood feud years ago and let the gargoyles move back into the castle, Goliath knew he could still be a shady guy sometimes. But this was almost outrageous! Elisa sensed Goliath's growing frustration and decided to step in and try to change the subject.

"So what has this guy told you so far?" Elisa asked, referring to Estevan.

"Nothing so far," Goliath replied.

"He wont say anything. Like his silent act is going to make things better for him or something," said Brooklyn.

He smacked his fist into his palm and then continued, "Well it's making me want to knock his head in."

"Calm yourself, my boy. Don't let a lad younger then yourself furrow your brow to this extent."

"Hudson's right. Besides, I don't think he's responding to us because he knows there are those among us who want to do harm to him. I think we need to be a little gentler with him and try to get to understand his motives more."

"That's exactly what I've been doing, Angela. But it seems to be doing no good so far. So I don't know what else to do," said Goliath.

Estevan at first just sat on the ground, listening to the group talking amongst themselves, all the while growing in anger. This anger stemmed from the fact that here were the gargoyles he intended to kill and he didn't have a good way to try and do so. Instead, they had him down on the ground guarded by a freak of nature gargoyle-dog hybrid while they were talking to each other almost ignoring his presence by doing so. As if to say, 'you're not important enough to refer to directly'. Already being a mess of mixed emotions, it wasn't helped that Estevan's life seemed to flash before his eyes like they say happens before someone meets 'Death'. It all became to much for Estevan. He shot up to his feet and let out his rage in a speech he shouted at those around him.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut the hell up! First of all, don't talk about me like I'm not even here! You got something to say, you say it to me directly! Oh, so you wanna know who I' am, huh? Wanna know why I decided to sneak onto this fortress in the sky and attack you out of nowhere? Okay, I'm going to tell you why. I'm Estevan Martinez and I didn't pick you out of thin air. I've been planning this for eleven years! Wanting it four years longer then that. Ever since you..."

Estevan pointed at all the gargoyles.

"... Yeah, one of you! Of your kind killed my parents and left me and my little sister to rot through life without a mom and dad to raise us! To teach us how to live in life! Instead having to live in a orphanage with several other lost souls, having to find out how to live the hard way! Well, I escaped that hollow hole of a home, left my sister, the last remnant of my previous life behind. Ever since I learned the location you most likely called home, I've been training, aching, lusting for the moment where I would finally look upon my family's killer and take my sweet, sweet revenge!"

Everyone was stunned silent by Estevan's outburst. Even Goliath, the great leader. Even David Xanatos, the smooth talking business man. Even Bronx, who had earlier treated Estevan like a cornered rabbit. They were all shocked to the point where none of them could utter a sound. This didn't last though as Lexington let his voice be heard.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on there..., Estevan or whatever you said your name was! You may have been driven half insane by life traumas and all. But you obviously haven't heard. We're the good guys. Even if right now we're being slandered in the public eye. You were there, you saw what happened in the park just now. You're the one we saved, remember?"

"Yeah, besides, we've never seen you before tonight," said Brooklyn.

"Perhaps you don't listen well, monster! Or maybe your gargoyle ears don't work as well as human ears. I told you freaks, this happened fifteen years ago. I was just a little boy then. And I don't care if you call yourselves good or bad! Hell, you could call yourselves pussy cats and I wouldn't care. What I saw that night was a gargoyle! Through the flames that were burning down my family's house, I saw it approach me! The blood of my parents on its hands. The very hands you all have," said Estevan.

Brooklyn, Broadway, and Lexington all looked down at their hands.

"Yes, that's right! Look at them! Those are the hands that took away my family and my life that night in Yelm, Washington! And I promise you, I will not rest until all those hands have your blood on them," Estevan said, pointed at all the gargoyles with that last part.

Goliath walked up to Estevan and spoke sternly like he did before.

"Look here..., Estevan. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say, we are all truly sorry for you losing your family. You may not believe it, but that is a feeling we know all to well. But to come here from across the country on a blind blood lust? I'm sorry to say, your fifteen year journey has been misguided. None of us have ever even been to Washington state and we barely ever leave the Manhattan area, let alone the state of New York."

Goliath decided that for now he wouldn't go into the Avalon travels, as now was not the best time.

"So I beg you, Estevan Martinez, give up your vain crusade against my clan. Please."

A hushed silence came over the group, much like after Estevan's outburst. Except this time instead of shocked silence, it was tense silence. Yes, tensions were rising as everyone watched the human called Estevan and the gargoyle called Goliath staring each other down. Waiting to see what the outcome would be. But when it came time for the outcome, it was so sudden, almost no one saw it coming. Estevan had been tensing up, his body trembling like it wanted to take action, but Estevan had been holding himself back. But he ended up making his move after all, in the form of a right fist that swung across Goliath's face.

It was everyone's turn to be shocked again. Goliath was hit so hard, his head was rocked and turned away from Estevan. When Goliath looked back at him, he had an angry, no, furious look of gritting teeth together with his lips pulled back in a snarl as he let out a growl. Estevan tried for a left cross. But this time Goliath was expecting it, so he was able to catch Estevan's left fist while he also wrapped a hand around Estevan's right wrist. The others in the group started to rush towards the action.

"Stop! Stay back!" Goliath ordered.

Everyone did as he said, stopping in their tracks. Goliath looked back towards Estevan, who had a look of intensity to match Goliath's.

"It doesn't matter what you say. And I don't care what you do. But as long as I live and breathe, I will never stop coming for you. I will run, crawl, or fly, whatever I have to do to get to any of you gargoyles until you are all dead! Or until I am dead!"

Estevan spat out before smacking his forehead into Goliath's face, followed by a knee to the ribs. This time, the gargoyle clan leader lost his temper. He couldn't take anymore of Estevan's assaults and keep a calm demeanor. Goliath pulled his fist back and swung it forward into Estevan's face. The sound of fist meeting face echoed through the ears of the onlookers in the group. The punch was hard enough not to do just that, but to also knock Estevan out like it was the tenth round of a boxing match. Goliath caught Estevan before he could fall to the ground and gently laid him down instead.

"Are you alright, father?" asked Angela as she and the others came up to Goliath.

"I am fine, Angela. I just let myself lose control of my anger. I shouldn't have done that. This poor boy's only confused and looking for the right answer to end his misery," said Goliath.

"Forget that, he just assaulted you and threatened to kill us. Something he tried doing earlier tonight," said Brooklyn.

But still Goliath was remorseful to the poor, tortured soul of Estevan.

"Yes it is true. Lust for revenge can turn any living being into a twisted and contorted caricature of one's former self. We should all know this very well," said Goliath.

Everyone had upset looks on their faces, Brooklyn even looking away.

"I agree with you, father, that we should be lenient with this boy," said Angela.

"Thank you, my child. But now, what are we to do with this Estevan Martinez character?"

"That one's easy. Let me arrest this guy and take him in for breaking and entering," said Elisa.

"No, that's no good. He'd only be in for a limited amount of time," said Broadway.

"Besides that, he knows where we live. He could easily tell somebody. Maybe even one of the guys we helped put in the slammer," said Lexington.

"Well, there's always the way where he just kind of... disappears," said Xanatos.

Everyone gave David Xanatos very stern and at the same time, annoyed looks.

"That is absolutely out of the question," said Goliath.

"I don't know, the way that guy's been running his mouth, I kind of like that idea," said Brooklyn.

It was his turn to get a look from everybody. This one, a look of shock.

"Look, I'm sorry, but this guy's seriously gotten under my skin." Brooklyn breathed in and out, trying to get a hold of his temper.

"I have a suggestion," said Angela.

"What is it?" asked Goliath.

"Well, now just hear me out on this. Since we discovered that the Central Park murders have been perpetrated by werewolves, we agree we'll have to step up our patrols regardless of how many police may be guarding the park, right?" asked Angela.

"Right," Goliath agreed.

"Wait a minute! Werewolves?! Actual, living, breathing werewolves are here in New York?!" asked a perplexed Elisa.

"I will tell you all about it to you, Elisa, once we have finished discussing what to do with the boy. Alright?" said Goliath.

Elisa regained her composure long enough to answer.

"Alright, Goliath. I'll be waiting for you," said Elisa as she backed up a little.

"Please continue," Goliath told Angela.

"Right, anyways, I was thinking, why not keep the Estevan boy here? Also, while most of us go out to look for the werewolves in the park, one of us stays here to keep an eye on him, while at the same time bond with him. Show him we are not the monsters he thinks we are. Each of us would stay with him for a week and then the next week someone else would come in to take the others place. We'd repeat this until all of us have had time to spend with him and show him we're all good."

Everyone's reaction to Angela's plan was unsure silence. They all had thought filled looks on their face, pondering the possibilities and repercussions of Angela's idea.

"I don't know, Angela. That sounds like it could be dangerous to both us and the boy. What is he is violent and confrontational the entire time?" said Goliath.

"It's true, father, this boy does have a lot of pint up anger in him just waiting to come out and it's true he may be confrontational at first. But I fill it would be worth the risk for the chance to try and pull a poor soul out of the dark pit that is vengeance lust. Plus it's like what was said before, our options with this boy are limited," said Angela.

"I disagree. No offense, Angie, but we don't really know what this kid is like for sure. He could be faking his whole identity that he's revealed to us thus far. He could've made up the whole revenge thing and... been a henchmen to the werewolves meant to draw us out of the castle and to the park," said Brooklyn.

"Brooklyn, even I know that statement is ridiculous," Broadway chimed in.

"Aye, lad. Besides, why would an agent for werewolves be carrying around a weapon made out of silver, a known repellant of werewolves?" said Hudson as he held out Estevan's sword.

"Well, father, what do you say?" asked Angela.

Goliath was still staring off thoughtfully, trying to come to a decision. He looked around at those around him, trying to read their faces and see what they think of Angela's idea.

"David, would you be willing to go along with this plan and open up one of your rooms to this boy?" Goliath asked as he held his hand down, pointed at Estevan's fallen form.

"You mean keep a deranged, blood thirsty, half psycho locked in a room with no windows, a bolted down air vent, and a thick wooden door while one of you goes in every night of every week for the next several weeks to both play and fight with him?"

Xanatos let his words sink in for everyone before giving his official answer.

"Yeah, sure. Why not? I got nothing to lose."

Goliath then looked to his clan.

"And would you all be willing to go through this process until this boy has finally dropped his grudge against us?"

"Absolutely! I'm almost willing to bet that underneath his bitter and angry persona is a good person. And I think it's up to us to bring that person out," said Lexington.

"I'll always go along with one of Angie's plan, any time, any day," said Broadway as he put his arms around Angela.

"It might be interesting to get to know this boy. As I observed in the park, when he's not letting his emotions do the thinking for his brain, he can be intelligent. I would like to think at one point we can have an intelligent conversation together," said Hudson.

This left only one clam member. But he was the hold out. Yes it was Brooklyn, who has been building anger at Estevan ever since they clashed with each other. It was apparent from the look on his face that Brooklyn still didn't care for Estevan at all and was not really behind this plan.

"Brooklyn, please?" Angela begged. Brooklyn's expression softened when he saw the pleading look in Angela's eyes. He never wanted to do anything to hurt, upset, or do any sort of thing against Angela, even if she chose Broadway over him, he still cared for her deeply.

"Alright, I'm in. I don't know for sure if this idea is going to work. But I'm in."

Angela smiled and said, "Thank you, Brooklyn. Thank you very much. This mean a lot."

Brooklyn looked away to hide the regret on his face for going along with the plan.

"Well, father?"

"Alright, Angela, my dear daughter with a heart brighter then that of the sun. We will each spend one week with Estevan while the rest of us go out looking for the werewolves."

"Are sure we can go up against a pack of vicious mythical wolf men without the full force of the clan?" Brooklyn brought up.

"What's a matter, Brooklyn? Losing faith in us over this Estevan thing are ya?" asked Hudson.

"No, no! I just-"

"Then it's settled. I guess we'll be needing to find the Estevan lad a room then," said Hudson.

"Bring him along and I'll show you the room I had in mind," said David Xanatos.

Goliath and Angela picked up Estevan's still unconscious body and carried him along as David Xanatos led them into the castle interior. Their walk took them to a huge wooden door that was thick as Xanatos had said. He grabbed the key for the door off a hanger on the wall next to the door, then unlocked it and opened it up. The gargoyles stepped in, still carrying Estevan, laying his body on the bed that was in the room.

"Are you sure about this, Angela?" asked Goliath.

"Of course, father. So sure, I'll volunteer to take the first week watch. I mean, it is the right thing to do isn't it? Helping someone to let go of their hate that is?"

Goliath smiled as his noble daughter. She was wise before he even met her and has gotten even wiser as time had gone by.

"You have a heart of gold, my daughter. I am very proud of you," said Goliath.

Then, father and daughter then embraced in a hug. A very touching moment it was.

"Well you'd better come with me to hear the briefing on the werewolf situation. It will be the last chance you get to be in on the werewolf situation. Because starting tomorrow, you'll be spending your nights watching this poor soul," said Goliath, pointing to Estevan as he said the last part.

"Alright, father. Let's go," Angela agreed.

And so the two gargoyles left to meet up with the rest of their clan. Leaving Estevan to be locked in the room that was to contain him until such a time where the gargoyles would make him forget about his hatred of them.

* * *

**It's weird. When you get up to a certain point in a story, you groan because you have to start a new chapter because you want the story to be finished. At least that's what happens to me sometimes. But at the same time, it's always great when I get to the end of a chapter and my blood starts pumping. Regardless of how I may feel about starting a new chapter, I'm still enjoying this story as a whole and I hope you all are to. Be sure to leave me a review to let me know if I'm doing a good job or I messed something up. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off. P.S. Sorry this chapter is so long. I really started to get into it.**


	11. Chapter 11

Estevan groaned as his eyes started to flutter open. He rolled over onto his side, letting the comfort of his soft and relaxing bed and even softer and more comfy blanket spread their comfort over his body even more then before. _Wait a minute, I'm in a bed! _Estevan realized. He quickly threw the blankets off his body and rolled up and out of the bed and backed away from the bed as he stared at it in confusion. His stepping backwards resulted in his back lightly colliding with the wall. Estevan spun around and looked the stone wall up and down with alarmed and confused eyes. He started running his hand across the wall to examine it. But then he stopped and spun back the other way to look around at the rest of the room. Except for the bed, there was almost no other furniture, except for a lamp that stood next to the bed. Estevan walked over to the lamp and turned it on.

The light shinning in the room reaffirmed that the bed and the lamp were the only things in the room with Estevan. He then noticed that across the room was a massively thick wooden door. It was at this time that Estevan remembered all the events of the other day. More specifically, what transpired in the late hours of last night. Tracking Elisa to the Eyrie Building, sneaking into the Eyrie Building, discovering the gargoyles clan and then them chasing him all the way to Central Park. It is here where he and the gargoyle clan ran into a pack of werewolves who had been killing people randomly in the park for several months. Once they lost the werewolf pack, the gargoyles brought Estevan back to the Eyrie Building and the big one who led them knocked him out.

Now here he was, in a room, whether it was in the Eyrie Building, or not, he didn't know. Estevan ran up to the door and tried to open it. But it didn't budge. He tried to open the door again and was met with the same result. Estevan kept trying to pull the door open again and again, despite getting the same result every time. Estevan let out moans, groans, and growls of frustration, but finally gave up on pulling the door open and turned away from it as he lowered to a sit. He realized it was no use, that the door was locked. And with the walls, ceiling and floor all being solid stone with no other doors or windows in sight, it was apparent that there was no way out of the room. All he could do was wait until either he rotted away and died or until someone came and unlocked the door to grab him for something. Whether it be more questioning, to kill him or until what seemed very unlikely at this time; they let him go.

_'Oh great! Here's another mess you got yourself into! You let your emotions get the best of you so many times that it finally caught up with you, resulting in you first getting your ass knocked out and now trapped in a cold, stone room!'_

"No!" Estevan shouted out as he grabbed at the sides of his head.

_'Yes, it was all because of your stupidness that you ended up in the situation you're in now!' "No, shut up! Shut up! Stop it! Stop talking! How could you still be talking?! Last night, I got rid of you forever!" Estevan shouted out even though there was no physical being in the room with him. 'You can't get rid of me. I'm you! Ya blundering fool. I'm the dark, tortured, twisted, spiteful, ugly part of you that's basically consumed you and taken over the last decade plus of your life. And all because you thought life would be better spent chasing a vendetta. You gave up your sister and any hope of growing up with a normal life all because you wanted to go gargoyle hunting. But while you were learning how to shoot off guns, swing sticks and swords, and throw punches and kicks to use against said gargoyles, you forgot to learn how to keep you emotions in check and under control. Now that's led to you getting trapped in this prison!' _

"Shut up! Stop mocking me!" Estevan yelled out, almost clawing at the sides of his head.

_'Look at you. You're a loser! A weak, pathetic, helpless loser! You deserved to fail with how weak you turned out to be! But then again, what else can be expected of someone who chose to live a hate filled life like you did? After all, a man consumed by hatred will be lost or so they say.' _

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Estevan couldn't take it anymore. He had been pushed to his limit by this inner struggle with the darkness he chose to let consume him. He had let spread over him and poison him like a cancer. Now that mixed with all that has happened to him since he came to New York, including being trapped in a room with no windows or other kind of way to tell him what time of day it is or what day it was at all, plus not knowing where he was exactly; it all just came together to break him down. Now here he was screaming as loud as he could, holding the sides of his head, lying in a fetal position on the ground, sweat pouring out of every pore of his body, and his eyes opened so wide it looked as though they were ready to pop out of their sockets. Eventually all this stress and pressure became to much for Estevan to keep consciousness. He ended up passing out on the ground in the same fetal position as before.

The hours passed and in that time, Estevan had several nightmares and a few glimpses of what could have been. The nightmares came from memories of the night his house burnt down in a fire and his parents being killed by a gargoyle. He had these nightmares several times before, but now an added image was the sight first of gargoyles and werewolves fighting around him. Then suddenly, they stop fighting and turn on him. They approach him in a slow menacing march, their faces twisted in snarls as they let out unearthly, demonic sounds. Then all of a sudden, the gargoyles and werewolves melt into one another and turn into a giant gargoyle and werewolf hybrid monster. Estevan screams as it seems to approach him. But then it fades away. He looks around him and sees his family, alive and altogether. His parents unharmed and smiling down at him as his mother holds a giggling and babbling baby Angel in her arms.

Then time goes by fast as Estevan gets older, as does Angel and his parents. But through it all, they're still one big happy family. Then time stops on the day where Estevan and his family would've been celebrating his nineteenth birthday. It's all smiles and everyone seems happy for this joyful occasion. But then suddenly, Estevan's smile turns to terror when he sees his parents and sister melt away into a swirl of pitch blackness. The black swirl then transforms into the hybrid beast from before and roars down at Estevan, its eyes glowing red like the gargoyle from that horrible night. Estevan then looks around him and sees nothing but fire. Nothing that is except his parents lying dead in front of him in a pool of their own blood while baby Angel is crying while wrapped in the mother's dead arms. Estevan shifts his gaze from this horrible sight back up when he hears the roars of the monster getting louder. And he sees it coming for him! Just inches away from him, it turns into the shadowy figure of the gargoyle from that night, reaching its hand out to grab him!

But then...his eyes open and he's wide awake in the same chamber he was in when he passed out. Estevan flipped over onto his backside and quickly looked around at all the corners of the room. There was nothing there but the bed and the lamp; just like before. Estevan slowly started to notice that his breathing was fast and heavy, as was his heartbeat. Plus he was drenched in sweat, even more so then he was before he passed out. Estevan didn't have a lot of time to get his self together before he heard the loud sound of the door being unlocked and slowly opening. A light illuminated out from the hall. It was partially blocked by the figure of someone who was coming into the room; bringing a chair along with them.

"Hello there. Uh, why are you sitting on the floor?"

Estevan recognized the voice that was speaking to him. He had only known it for a short amount of time. But he had discovered the living being the voice belonged to so recently that he saw a mental image of the person before she even stepped into the light for him to see her for real. It was Angela, daughter to the clan leader Goliath, lover of the gargoyle called Broadway, and so far seemed to be the only female gargoyle of the bunch.

"You!" Estevan blurted out with surprise and a hint of contempt in his voice.

"Yes, Estevan, let me explain. I convinced my dad and Mr. Xanatos to spare you from jail time or any other kind of harsh punishment and instead keep you here while you get to know each of us one at a time. Just to let you see that we're not the monsters you think we are," said Angela.

Estevan said nothing in response. Instead he stood up on his feet and walked over to his bed and sat down. Angela's eyes were wide with concern when she saw the state Estevan seemed to be in.

"Oh my gosh, you're a mess! You look like you've been to Hell and back," said Angela.

Mentally it was like Estevan really had been to Hell and back. But he wasn't about to tell her that. Instead he tried gathering enough of his sanity back to concentrate on letting the gargoyle across the room from him feel his hatred. His blank, tired facial expression twisted into a glare aimed directly at Angela.

"Oh come on. Please don't be like that. We're going to be spending a week together. Do you really want there to be a wall of hate between you and me?"

Still Estevan said nothing; choosing instead to let his looks do all the talking. And they said straight up, 'I hate you'. Angela just sighed as she sat herself down in the chair she brought with her.

"I can see that this will more then likely be a long week for both of us. But I sincerely hope you warm up to me a little bit. I went out of my way to see that you get treated fairly; I'd like to think you'll end up treating me with the same courtesy."

Still Estevan refused to speak. He just keep staring at her with distrust and disdain. Angela decided to sit back and give Estevan some space and time to get a bitter hold on himself. Maybe then he would be less cold and aggravated. She did just that and oh how slow it made time seem to go by. So the minutes went by and turned into hours, which felt like they were bleeding into years due to the awkward silence that filled the air; combined with Estevan's unrelenting hate. He refused to remove the spiteful look from his face, choosing to instead let Angela see it so she would know she was in enemy company. But as time past, Angela felt less threatened and more bored then anything else. After so many hours went by, she decided she had given him enough space and now was the right time to try and get to know Estevan and bond with him somehow.

"So...would it be wrong for me and angering to you if I asked you a little about yourself? You mentioned last night that you traveled all over America and except for one brief period of time, I've mostly stayed in two places for most of my life; the place I was born and right here in New York. I have to admit, I've kind of started to wonder what the rest of America was like."

Estevan did not answer Angela. He chose instead to look away from her in disgust. Angela wasn't too dejected though as she knew this was most likely going to one of several rude and hateful responses. But then she noticed something she hadn't before. It would appear that Estevan's physical health was slowly starting to deteriorate. He was groaning in pain, he breathing getting heavier, and he was sometimes grabbing at his shoulders, chest. ribs, and legs. _He must be really starting to feel the hits he took last night while fighting against and running from us and those werewolves,_ Angela thought. Besides that, she also saw that he was still sweating profusely. This indicated to her that he was feeling extremely stressed out and couldn't settle down and relax. Plus if he kept sweating like this, he could start to dehydrate. He needed help.

"You know, Estevan, we have proper resources here to help you. We've got a medical station to treat any wounds or other medical problems you might have. We can also provide you with food and water if needed," Angela offered.

Estevan turned his head back towards Angela and tried to turn his expression from agony to the same hateful glare he had been giving her before.

"Do not insult me with your...pathetic gargoyle tricks," said Estevan as he tried to keep his eyes open.

"I'm not trying to trick you, Estevan. I'm only trying to help yo-"

"I don't want your help! I want nothing from you, but your death and the death of your whole clan by my hands!"

"Why must you act like this towards me and my clan? You said it yourself what happened to your parents happened in Washington and I told, I've hardly been outside New York. The same goes for the rest of the clan. You said you had to find out about our existence here. Did you gloss over the fact that we've been proven to be the good guys? We could never harm innocent people. We told you last night and I'm telling you now, none of us killed your parents or had any connection whatsoever to what happened to them."

"Oh spare me all your 'I'm innocent' crap, you winged freak! First of all, you keep saying how you and your gargoyle pals are all innocent. Well for all I know, one of you could be lying! One of you could've been the gargoyle from that night and until I decide to think otherwise, which is highly unlikely, I will continue to hate you, despise you, and try to see you all fall lifeless. Besides, even if none of you were the gargoyle that did it, you're still gargoyles. I told myself long ago, all you monsters are the same! Cold, viscous, killers! So I swore to myself for as long as I live, every time I came across one or a bunch of you, I would take them all down. I'll be most likely to kill the gargoyle that got my parents that way anyway. Make no mistake, I will avenge my family, gargoyle!"

Angela stood up out of her chair. Her kind face was replaced by a stern and serious look directed at Estevan.

"You know something, you sit there and say that you've convinced yourself all gargoyles are alike. in that they're all killing monsters as an excuse to murder each one you see in hopes that gargoyle will be the one that killed your family. Will if that's a case and all gargoyles are heartless killers, then why did we rescue you from the werewolves and not kill you ourselves last night?"

Estevan's face twisted into an angry snarl as he pointed at Angela and yelled, "Shut your mouth, gargoyle!"

After saying this, Estevan forced himself off his bed and onto his feet and then slowly started walking towards Angela. As he lifted his finger to point at her, Estevan said, "It doesn't matter what you say or do. I will always hate you!"

As Estevan shouted that last part, he balled his hand up into a fist and swung at Angela. But Angela was easily able to catch Estevan's fist in her hand. Afterword, she wrapped her left arm around Estevan's body, while still holding Estevan's fist in her right hand. Estevan struggled as hard as he could to get free of Angela's grip. However, in his weakened condition, Estevan posed little challenge for Angela to restrain. And that's what she was trying to do for the most part. She didn't attack him in anyway, just tried to keep him still and under control. The struggle was not a long one though. At about a few seconds, Estevan's already exhausted body gave out on him and he fell into Angela's arm. Angela had to balance Estevan so that she had complete control of his body in her arms. Then she draped Estevan's right arm around her shoulder and helped walk him over to the side of his bed. She started to lower Estevan into his bed. But he suddenly came to and shoved her away as he yelled, "Get off of me!"

He fell onto his bed and rolled over onto his back.

"I'm only trying to help you," said Angela.

"I told you before! I don't want your help! You gargoyles have nothing to offer that I want!" said Estevan.

"Not even friendship?" asked Angela.

Estevan at first didn't know how to respond because he wasn't expecting the question. _A gargoyle offering itself to me as friend? _But Estevan quickly caught himself.

"Not now or ever will I call a gargoyle 'friend'," Estevan said defiantly.

"Okay, if you don't want friendship, how about some water to start off with?" asked Angela.

She didn't wait for a response; she just stepped out of the room. She returned a few minutes later with a bottle of water. Angela saw Estevan moaning as his eyes started to roll up in the back of his head. She walked over to Estevan's bedside, cradled his head in one hand while she pressed the top of the water bottle in her opposite hand to his lips and allowed the water to pour into Estevan's mouth. The first few sips went down the wrong way in Estevan's throat and he ended up choking on it and coughing it back up.

"I'm sorry, Estevan. I really am sorry!" said Angela.

She placed the bottle in Estevan's hands when he stopped coughing.

"Here, maybe you'll live longer if you do it yourself."

Estevan sat up straight and tipped the water bottle to take a big gulp of water. It felt so great to him to finally have something to drink after waiting so long. He couldn't even remember the last time he had a drink of anything. Estevan took another drink out of the bottle and basked in the feeling of water pouring into his mouth. He felt so good, he looked to Angela and almost blurted out a big 'thank you'. But then he caught himself when he saw the female gargoyle smiling back at him. He removed his own smile and looked away as he continued drinking his water.

"I know you said you hate all gargoyles and don't want any gargoyles as your friend. But I honestly feel in my heart of hearts that underneath your spiteful persona, there is a pure hearted, good person who will come to see past our...I guess monstrous exterior and we will eventually bond together in friendship. You and all the gargoyles of this clan, not just me. I would very much like to be your friend, Estevan and perhaps even play a part in you letting go of your prejudice against gargoyles."

Angela's words spoken in a caring and even somewhat motherly tone penetrated Estevan's ears and made him look over at the kindly smiling gargoyle with shock on his face. _How can she still be so nice even after all I said and even after I tried to attack her? _Estevan suddenly felt very tired and was unable to keep his eyes completely opened. So he screwed the top of his water bottle back on, turned onto his side and went to sleep. _I got a feeling these are going to be very long weeks ahead for us all, _Angela thought to herself. Indeed they would be. For the rest of her week, Angela tried talking to Estevan more, but he refused to speak. Some would see this as failure, but not Angela. The fact that he decided not to say anything mean or derogatory told her she was making progress. She also set aside one night where she could allow Estevan temporary transfer to the medical station so his injuries and any sickness he was feeling could be taken care of. So while Estevan was quiet that first week while Angela was caring for him, it could be more or less considered some kind of success.

* * *

**First off, sorry it's been a while since I updated this story. I've been a little busy. Also, this chapter has set up what the next few are gonna be like. I'm gonna show you what happens on the first day one of the gargoyles interact with Estevan, then I'm gonna have to tell you how the rest of the week went. Showing vs telling, I know, but honestly, I can't think of enough material to fill up a whole week. Also, I'd either have to make the chapters Estevan spends with the gargoyles waaaay longer then they have been, or make a whole bunch of separate chapters that would make up each week, which I honestly think would take up a bunch of unnecessary time. And I'm sure no one wants that. So yeah, feel free to leave a review, as usual let me know if I made a spelling or grammar error so I can correct it. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off.**


	12. Chapter 12

**WEEK 2: **

Estevan awoke surprisingly to him feeling very rested for the first time in he couldn't remember how long. _I wonder why that is, _Estevan thought to himself. Could it be that I slept in a good bed? Estevan hadn't slept on a real bed in years; probably since he lived at the orphanage. But it wasn't just that. No, Estevan felt it was something else. Then he remembered that all last week, Angela and several medical personal had taken care of him while he was both injured and sick and nursed him back to full health. During that time he kept slipping in and out of consciousness. He also had several visions that kept switching from his usual tormented memories and nightmares to visions of Angela and others caring for his well being.

But then one day, the visions all just stopped and were replaced by a feeling of relaxation that kept going up until now when he woke up. Estevan got up out of his bed and stretched out his arms and legs. He immediately felt the difference from being taken care of. His whole body felt more comfortable then what it had a week ago. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he felt this good. Estevan felt so loose and so healthy that he actually started dancing around a little like a boxer does in a fight, with his fists raised to match. He started jabbing at thin air, followed by body shots and haymakers. Estevan felt so alive at this moment in time. Estevan's showcase ended in him jumping up in the air and doing a backflip.

But then Estevan decided he felt like going some more. So he started running laps from one side of the room to another. He felt more alive then he had in a long time and wanted to savior every moment of it. Back and forth he ran down to one side of the room, only to turn around and run to the other, something he did over and over again. That is, until his stomach started ache and growl in mid run of his ninth lap, making him drop to one knee and grab at his stomach. _What's going on? I was feeling just fine a little bit ago. Did that gargoyle really fix me up? Or did she poison me somehow and it is just now taking effect? _Estevan felt and heard his stomach growl again. It didn't take him so long to figure out what was really happening. _I'm hungry! _It was true that Estevan hadn't really eaten since the day he followed Elisa Maza to the Eyrie Building. That was more then a week ago and he was starting to feel the effects of not eating for that amount of time.

It was at this time that Estevan heard the sound of the door being unlocked, followed by hearing the door being opened. Estevan got up to his feet and waited for the door to fully open so he could see who it was that was coming in. It turned out to be the smallest gargoyle; the one who goes by the name Lexington. After he closed the door behind him, Lexington walked towards Estevan almost on all fours, except for one hand that was holding something wrapped in tin foil. Lexington looked Estevan up and down for a little bit and then spoke.

"It looks like you're doing better. Angela said you were feeling very sick there for a while. But I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Huh? You are?" asked Estevan, a look of surprise on his face.

"Certainly. If I had to look after a mumbling, bumbling, sickly boy who couldn't give me a conversation, this would be a pretty boring week for me," said Lexington.

"Oh, you're actually looking forward to talking to me are ya? Well, apparently Angela didn't go into too much detail about the words we've exchanged," said Estevan.

"Oh, she told me exactly what it was you said and how you feel about us deep down inside. Still, I must be doing something right since you haven't ripped my head off with your harsh words yet," said Lexington.

"I don't have the energy to tear into you right now," Estevan replied as he walked over to his bed and sat down on it.

"Hmm, could that be because you're hungry?" Lexington inquired.

Estevan gave the small gargoyle a look of suspicion.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because if you are, I could give you this."

Lexington unwrapped the tin foil to reveal what was underneath.

"What's that?" asked Estevan.

"It's a sandwich, silly. Well to be more precise, it is one of Broadway's roast beef sandwiches that he made for himself."

Estevan raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Estevan. Broadway made like twelve of them before this one and ate them all. Here."

Lexington tossed the sandwich over to Estevan, who caught it with ease. But instead of eating it, Estevan examined it a little. It was a mountain of a sandwich and looked very appealing to the hungry eye. But Estevan found he had a hard time trusting in anything given to him by the gargoyles. He may not have the energy to go shouting rounds with them, but his distrust of them was as strong as ever. But was his hatred of them still as strong? Estevan sniffed the sandwich, trying to discover any possible tamperings that were done to it. Then he picked off a small piece of the meat and tasted it.

"It's fine, Estevan. Nobody did anything rotten with the sandwich, I promise. Just eat it. Come on, please. You haven't eaten anything in all the time you've been here."

Estevan looked over at Lexington. And what he saw was...compassion, concern, and and legitimate care all written on Lexington's face. This was almost as surprising to Estevan as Angela's motherly smile was. But while Estevan was able to hide his surprise and keep his hate filled glare before, right now, Estevan was unable to hide his surprise at this act of kindness. Estevan looked down at the sandwich, then over at Lexington, who still had his genuine look of care on his face. Estevan finally shrugged and took a bite out of the sandwich. After that first bite, nothing else in the world mattered to Estevan. Now there was only him and the sandwich. He gorged on it like he was the first man on Earth eating for the first time ever. Having not eaten for so long, Estevan couldn't seem to control himself. But then finally, after enjoying several bites of the sandwich, Estevan took a moment to catch his breath. He then looked to notice Lexington smiling over at him. Estevan then cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak.

"Uh...th...tha...thank you,... Lexington was it?"

"Mm hmm," Lexington replied as he nodded his head.

"Uh... Right! Lexington... Thank you, Lexington," said Estevan.

"You're welcome, Estevan."

After that, there was a long moment of awkward silence. Lexington said nothing for a while, and Estevan said nothing for a while. Estevan did however did take a few more bites of his sandwich, being more in control of himself this time. Estevan would sometimes glance over at Lexington to see him just staring back. Neither one made a big effort to speak to each other. Estevan sat on his bed, while Lexington sat in his chair. But then, Estevan couldn't take it anymore and finally broke the silence.

"So aren't you eager to try and talk to me? You know, making conversation with me like you mentioned before and also try to bond with me?"

"Well, yeah, I want to. But...at the same time, I wanna make sure you're comfortable enough with me to do so."

"I...don't know if I'll ever be truly comfortable talking to you. Or any gargoyle for that matter."

"But why? A week ago you were trying to kill me and my clan and I trust you right now. So why not vice versa?"

"I... Heh. I can't believe I'm actually going to say this. But, I actually do wanna trust you, Lexington. Really, I do. You seem like a stand up, all around good...person."

"So what's wrong?"

"Well... I'm sorry... But I'm afraid I just can't bring myself to do it."

"Why?"

"Well..."

Estevan let out a sigh as he tried to think of the right words to say.

"It's two reasons actually. But they're very big reasons. First is...it would break two codes I've lived my life by ever since I hit the road. Never trust anyone and hate all gargoyles you see...and kill them. Which leads into my second reason, which as you already know is how my parents died."

"Oh...I see. Being on the streets with a distrustful attitude towards everyone and everything around you must be hard."

"I've managed to live so far. I must be doing something right."

"Live? Estevan, what you've described isn't living, it's surviving."

"Personally, I don't see the difference?"

"Surviving is just get barely getting by like I assume you've been doing, right?"

Estevan nodded his head as he said, "Yeah, I guess."

"Also because you've been so distrustful and not allowed yourself any emotional connections to anyone, you've forgone one of the key elements to living. And that's feeling."

"And you think what you've been doing is living?"

"Yes, absolutely. Look where I live. Look who I live with. By making these emotional attachments and bonds, I live a great life in a great place; surrounded by several friends and family members who love me as much as I love them."

"I'm sorry to say, but I still can't bring myself to one hundred percent trust any of you as of right now, because I feel you could just be lulling me into a false sense of security and making me let my guard down. Also, I don't have any friends or family members left."

"If I was just trying to make you let your guard down to attack you, I could've done while you were teeth deep in that sandwich. Also, didn't you say you still had a sister that survived with you?"

Estevan was quiet at first, unable to bring himself to answer the question of his sister right away.

"Yes... Her name is Angel."

"Well don't you see? When you chose to leave her behind and go one the road for your vengeance instead of staying to connect with her or let yourself connect with anyone else, you became a shell of what a person is suppose to be. You shouldn't have been alone on the road all those years surviving. You should've stayed where you were with Angel and actually live. Now you have a chance to actually start living a little. I wanna be your friend, Estevan, and in time so will the others in my clan."

Estevan looked away thoughtfully, trying to decide how to respond.

"You're asking me to turn my back on two ideals I've lived my life by for the past eleven years." "Well think back, Estevan. I mean, really think back. Where did following those ideals really get you in life when it all comes down to it?"

Estevan didn't talk for a little bit. Instead he took Lexington's advice and looked back on his life. Did he really accomplish anything? Estevan couldn't really think of anything major that stuck out that he did that was very important in the big picture.

"Okay, you got a point," Estevan finally admitted.

"See? So what are you going to do now?" asked Lexington.

"I... I don't know. As of right now... I really don't know. But I will tell you what I plan to do in the future. I plan on finding my sister and making us a family again."

"That sounds like a great idea, Estevan. So why can't you do that now?"

"Because...I got something I gotta do first."

"You mean trying to find the gargoyle that killed your parents?"

"Yep, that's it."

"Can I suggest something to you? Forget about finding him or her. Just put it behind you and reunite with your sister."

"What?! I can't do that. You know I can't do that! I have to see this thing to the end. I have to see that justice is done by my family. And that's just what I'm going to do! Besides, I've been at it too long, wasted so many years of my life pursuing this thing to just give up now. Am I suppose to just stop and let those years truly be for nothing?!"

"Hmm... Look at it this way, you started on this path as a distrustful person with extreme prejudices, but by the end, you overcame those distrustful feelings and prejudices and left them behind for good and gained some new friends. And just remember, we can't truly be friends until you let go of your hate of gargoyles," said Lexington.

"But what about my parents?"

"If they truly loved you, then they wouldn't want you living this kind of empty life. Also, I don't know for sure if you'd ever actually be able to find the gargoyle that took their lives. But I actually do know where you're coming from about wanting to get revenge."

Again Estevan paused. He found it very awkward and difficult to talk to this kind, little gargoyle. Especially now since he was actually talking to Estevan about possibly leaving his quest for revenge behind. Would he actually bring himself to forget his lust for revenge? Could he forget his lust for revenge? Lexington was starting to get a little concerned by Estevan's lack of response. This one was longer then the last and made Lexington think he should say something.

"You don't still think one of us could be the gargoyle that killed your parents, do you?"

"No... Yes... Maybe... I- I don't know! I'm feeling very conflicted right now," Estevan admitted.

_'Oh don't tell me you're folding right now! I can't believe after all this time, you're just going to throw it all awa...' _

_'Shut up! I don't have time for your bullshit right now!' _Estevan forced the voice out of his head and gave his full focus to the conversation at hand with Lexington.

"I mean...the confliction comes mostly from the fact that I've hated gargoyles for so long. And now after meeting a few, you guys turned out to be pretty stand up guys. That is, so far you and Angela have turned out to be pretty good so far. So good in fact, that it's really made me rethink a lot of stuff I thought before. It's really made me regret the way I treated Angela last week. She was so nice to me, offered me friendly conversation, and medical attention. All I did was shout at her, say terrible things she didn't deserve, and even tried to attack her."

Lexington's eyes widened in shock.

"You attacked Angela?!"

"I tried, but I didn't have any success at all. I thought she already told you about everything that happened during our week together."

"She didn't tell us you tried to attack her."

"Oh. ...I guess she decided to forget it happened. I wish I could apologize and forget all about it too."

"So...does that mean you wanna be friends?" Lexington asked.

"Well... All I'm saying is... I'll try. I wanna try. It'll be hard to get over my original feelings about gargoyles. But I wanna try. The kindness you guys have shown me thus far and you actually taking the time to listen to me whine about my life problems has convinced me to do that."

Lexington smiled at Estevan and said, "You'll see, we're all really easy to get along, and form friendships with."

"I hope it's true. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm a little tired. I think I wanna get my eight hours for the night," said Estevan.

"I understand. Go ahead and go to sleep. Goodnight, Estevan," said Lexington.

"Goodnight, Lexington...my friend."

And with that, Estevan pulled the bed covers over his body, laid his head down on the pillow and went to sleep.

For the next week, Estevan and Lexington talked mostly about Estevan's odd jobs he did while on the road. Estevan told Lexington about his construction jobs, his janitor jobs, and his jobs as a mechanic, fixing cars. This led into Lexington talking about his love for modern science, particularly technology and how quick he was able to adapt to it and use it on several occasions. Even flying planes and helicopters, among other advanced flying crafts. He also got a chance to repair a helicopter and even built a motorcycle from scratch. Talking to Lexington and learning about his love for technology really helped Estevan loosen up and develop social skills that he could possibly try out on the other gargoyles. It also made him feel for the first time in a long time like he had a real...friend. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

* * *

**I actually don't have a lot to say for this author's note except that I think this is my favorite story of mine that I've written now. It use to be 'Godzilla on Mythology Island', but this one has clicked so well with me thus far, and am much more happy with it. So beyond that, please leave a review after reading this and be sure to let me know if I made any spelling or grammar errors, which I'll be more then happy to correct. Oh, and HAVE A HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY! It's so cool I actually got to post this on Halloween. And that was just by pure coincidence too. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Review Stuff, and once again; HAPPY HALLOWEEN! **


	13. Chapter 13

**WEEK 3: **

Going into this next week, Estevan didn't really know how to feel. He didn't know whether to be happy, nervous, excited, or scared. It could've been a mixture of the four. For one thing, Estevan was about to start off what was to be a whole week with a new gargoyle. He didn't know what to expect. Would this new gargoyle have a similar nature to that of Angela and Lexington? Or would this new gargoyle be meaner, nicer, or extremely random with his emotions? Would he be talkative, or quiet? Would he be very relaxed or very confrontational? And whether this new gargoyle had the good or bad qualities to him, another big question burned in Estevan.

How would he act towards the gargoyle for this week? Unfortunately, this was a question Estevan didn't really have a solid answer to. This was because last week, while he for the most part stayed calm and enjoyed his time shared with Lexington, he still wasn't a hundred percent free of memories of his tragic past. They were still flowing wildly in his head and still penetrating into his nightmares. As did the voice that taunted him into trying to kill the gargoyles and then taunted him further when he didn't. It even manifested itself into physical form in Estevan's nightmares. Estevan remembered those nightmares all to well. He had just had one last night. It all came flooding back to Estevan.

It was very foggy and dark. Extremely dark in fact. Estevan could barely see in front of him. But that didn't keep him from running. He had to. He knew he had to. He felt it deep in his bones and in his heart that if he stopped running or turned around, he would be forced to confront pure evil. So Estevan kept running. That is until he tripped over something. What, he could not see. But it didn't matter; because when he fell, that's when he heard...The Voice.

"Estevan.." He gasped in fear when he heard it.

"Estevan Martinez..."

"No!" Estevan cried out as he grabbed the sides of his head.

"Keep away! Leave me alone!" Estevan pleaded before he started running again.

But as he ran, he heard The Voice laughing at him, mockingly. The laughter seemed to have come from all around Estevan, which made it near impossible to figure out where it was really coming from. As did The Voice's next words.

"Where you going, Estevan? You can't get away from me."

Estevan had been looking around him trying to spot the source of the words when he decided to look straight ahead. He let out a scream when he finally saw The Voice standing only three feet in front of him.

"See what I mean?" The Voice asked.

He was hidden well in the shadows, despite the fog now clearing away.

"Stay away! I want no part of you!" Estevan screamed as he backed away a little.

But The Voice just reached one hand out towards Estevan and began walking towards him too. The hand started out looking very human from what Estevan could tell. As The Voice moved closer, the hand started to twist around and transform into the hand of something not human. The transformation ran up The Voice's arm and around his body.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop doing this to me! You're tearing me apart!" Estevan screamed at the top of his lungs.

"It's time, Estevan, it's time. Either do what you said you were gonna do or let yourself forever be consumed by me," said The Voice as he finally stepped close enough for Estevan to see his face.

Estevan screamed when he saw that The Voice's face was a mirror image of his own. Only with an evil smile in place of Estevan's wide eyed fear. At least that's how The Voice's face started out before the transformation effecting his body reached his head. Despite the transformation, The Voice still found the time to let out a sinister laugh as his body changed. When it was all over, The Voice revealed that his body had taken on the form of a glowing, red eyed, gargoyle. The Voice still laughed as he reached for Estevan's throat.

It was at this point where Estevan's dream had ended and he had returned to the real world, wide awake and drenched in his own sweat. It was things like this that made Estevan doubt if he would be able to keep himself under control. But he would soon find out. The day seemed to pass by faster than usual. At least for Estevan, it did. He didn't know what time seemed like outside his room, but to him time felt like it was going faster. This was strange to Estevan, because during his week with Lexington, time felt like it went by at a normal pace. But it wasn't really something to dwell on. Not now, at least.

Now there was only waiting for the gargoyle of the week to come and watch Estevan. The wait was not a long one. In what seemed like no time, Estevan heard the sound of the door being unlocked and then it opened. Estevan looked to see that this gargoyle was holding what looked like a big, black box in his arms. The gargoyle poked his head out from behind the box-like object in his arms and allowed Estevan to see that the gargoyle was the elderly one who went by the name, Hudson.

"Uh... Hello," said Estevan.

"Evening, lad," Hudson greeted.

"I hope you don't mind me bringing this with me. But they told me you didn't have a TV in this room."

_So that's what he brought with him._

"No, not at all. Do whatever you can to make yourself happy. I don't mind," Estevan spoke in a fast and nervous voice.

"Thank you very kindly, lad. Oh, could you do me a favor? I left the stand for the TV just outside the door. Would you mind getting it and bringing it in?"

Estevan hesitated with his response. He wondered if this gargoyle really trusted him to walk out of the room or if this was just some kind of test. Estevan had been locked in his room for a couple of weeks now. _Does this gargoyle just want to test me and see if I can be trusted?_ _Can I be trusted? Or will I make a run for it? _ Estevan asked himself in his head. But his train of thought was interrupted by Hudson's voice.

"How about it, lad?"

"Huh?! W-w-wha?" Estevan blurted out in surprise as he was brought back to reality.

"Could you get the little desk I left out there so I can put this television set on it. I can't hold this TV forever, ya know," said Hudson.

"Um...sure. Yeah, I'll get that for you," Estevan replied.

"Thank you... Estevan is your name, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

Estevan walked past Hudson and out into the hallway. He spotted the desk not too far ahead of him. Estevan walked up to the desk and began to pick it up. But then he stopped and looked out, further down the hall. It was very tempting at this moment in time for Estevan to try and run away, possibly to escape. ...And plan a next assault against the gargoyles? Was it something Estevan would really consider doing after getting to know them as people, as intelligent and sentient beings? Did he still have enough of his original hatred of gargoyles to even contemplate running away to live and fight another day? He must...because that was what he was doing at that moment.

_'Come on, the opportunity to get away is right in front of you. All you got to do is take it.' _

The voice had returned to Estevan's thoughts. Something Estevan really didn't want right now. It started to make Estevan feel very uncomfortable, invoking feelings of high anxiety, panic, and even gagging. Estevan started breathing heavier and took the time to pull at the collar of his shirt to try and reduce the choking feeling he was having.

_'Oh, you're really going to pass up this chance to get away and possibly strike a blow against one of those fowl gargoyle creatures? YOu fool! It wouldn't be that hard! All you gotta do is toss that desk in your hands at the gargoyle behind you, possibly injuring or even if you're lucky, killing him. Then you can get the hell out of here! Do it! Forget about these freaks and there attempt at friendship! Just stick to the plan! You have been taking your eye off the ball! Get back on track! Come on, do it!' _

It took every ounce of will power Estevan had not to do as the voice kept telling him to do. It would've been harder to completely block the voice out of his head if Hudson hadn't decided to say something at that moment.

"What is holding you up, lad? That desk too much for ya to handle? Or is Bronx holding ya up?"

Estevan's eyes opened wide with shock as he looked around the hall. He finally spotted the gargoyle-dog hybrid standing not too far from him. _How did I not see him standing there until just now? It looks like it wouldn't have worked if I tried to run after all. _Estevan got a little nervous when he saw the dog-like beast walk up to him a little.

"Okay, that's twice you snuck up on me. I didn't like it the first time you did it and I don't like it now," Estevan said to Bronx.

He just let out a few low growls in reply. Estevan didn't know how to reply to the sounds the animal made. So instead, he just started walking back towards the room, the desk cradled in his arms. _Trust is a hard thing to earn. But it's extremely easy to lose. I've gotten through two weeks already. I can do this, _Estevan thought to himself. When he came back in, Hudson said, "Ah, there you are, Estevan. I thought maybe old Bronx had scared ya to death or something."

"He almost did," Estevan replied as he set down the desk to give his arms some rest.

"Where do you want this?" asked Estevan.

"Over in the corner if you don't mind," said Hudson.

Estevan picked up the desk and placed it where Hudson asked, followed by Hudson himself setting the TV set on top of the desk.

"Thank you very much, Estevan. Your help is appreciated."

"Don't mention it...Hudson."

The two shared quick smiles before Hudson turned back to the TV to plug it in. Estevan sat down on his bed while Hudson turned the chair left in the room for the gargoyles towards the TV and sat down. He turned the television on and began channel flipping. At the same time, Estevan looked towards the still opened door to see Bronx coming into the room. This made him feel very uneasy, as he did not know what to expect from a gargoyle animal as opposed to an actual gargoyle.

"I hope you don't mind Bronx taggin' along for tonight. He gets lonely while the others are away and he's very good company. That is, if you take the time to get to know him," said Hudson.

Estevan was even more alarmed when Bronx walked up to him specifically. And then he did something Estevan didn't really know how to react to. Bronx placed his head in Estevan's lap and whimpered a little like a normal dog would do to get some attention. Again, Estevan didn't know what to expect from a gargoyle animal. Hudson stopped flipping through channels to see what would happen next between Estevan and Bronx. Though still intimidated, Estevan slowly reached out his hand to Bronx. He didn't hesitate to start licking the inside of Estevan's palm. This friendly gesture settled Estevan's nervous to the point where he finally placed his hand on top of Bronx's head and started petting him, much to Bronx's pleasure.

The gargoyle dog let out a few pleased sounds and let a smile spread across his face as Estevan continued petting him. Estevan worked his hand down the back of Bronx's neck all the way to behind his shoulders. He then turned his petting into back scratching. This got one of Bronx's back legs to begin rapidly moving out of control. This got both Estevan and Hudson laughing.

"You see what I mean, lad? He's a good boy," said Hudson.

Estevan ceased his scratching and allowed Bronx to lay down next to Estevan's bed.

"Yes, he certainly seems to be. I admit, the first time we met, he scared me. But to be fair, I was sneaking around with...bad intentions towards you and your clan members. But now that I'm getting to know him, he's doing what Angela and Lexington did. And that's surprise me by how...civil you've all been so far. Probably more civil then I've ever been in my whole life," said Estevan.

"I know it's easy to assume things about others that you've only heard about and never really came in contact with before. But, don't assume to much. You may find those others can surprise you," replied Hudson.

"But I have come in contact with gargoyles before," Estevan said as a sour look came on his face.

Hudson said nothing, instead resuming his channel flipping.

"But it was wrong for me to let one encounter with just one gargoyle set my mood on gargoyles as a whole. I realize that now, thanks to the kindness you have all shared with me thus far. I do really appreciate it by the way," said Estevan.

Hudson stopped on a news program and turned back to Estevan.

"Thank you for your kind words, Estevan. And for being able to look past our what I guess most humans would call, 'scary appearance' and being able to see we're not so different," said Hudson.

The two again exchanged mutual smiles before Hudson turned back to watch the news. Estevan's attention however shifted first to Bronx still lying on the floor, resting peacefully, then it shifted to the still opened door.

"Aren't you going to close the door so it can be locked like with the previous two weeks?"

"Nah, I figured if you were going to run, you would've done it by now. Plus, I trust ya to think smart and not runaway."

Estevan was surprised even further. He always assumed that trust was not an easy thing to earn, as he had never trusted anyone in his years on the road. But these gargoyles seemed to be handing it out on a silver platter. _Was it wise for them to so me trust like they have been? Were they a hundred percent convinced that I was trust worthy?_ Regardless of the answer, Estevan was grateful for their trust, despite feeling it was giving a little too fast. _But then again, even if I did break their trust, they were still gargoyles who could and probably would mess me up pretty badly if I broke their trust_.

Estevan stopped thinking about it and instead joined Hudson in viewing the news. It was currently focused on the two news anchors, both a man and a woman, sitting behind a desk in the studio. "Right now, we want to turn our attention to a matter, the likes of which is still sending shock waves through the minds of the people of New York. All of whom are completely baffled to learn that monsters outside of the known clam of gargoyles live in Manhattan," the woman anchor reported. Then the man took over.

"Yes, as many of you are now well aware, two weeks ago, it was discovered that a group of wolf-like monsters, which are being called werewolves after popular creatures of folklore, among several film and book adaptations by the people; seem to live within the confines of Central Park. They were spotted by one of the many patrol teams assigned to the park; fighting against the aforementioned gargoyle clan. Because of this new development, it is assumed that these 'werewolves' if you will; are the real culprits behind the murders that have been taking place in Central Park. As a result of this, the previously suspected gargoyle clan has been dropped of the charges and issued a formal apology by the mayor."

The image then cut to a previously recorded press conference that featured the mayor speaking.

"And it is with a heavy and regretful heart that we, the council of the city offer a sincere apology to the gargoyles, who in the past have been willing to put their own lives on the line just to protect ours. So for being so quick to judge you, to the gargoyle defenders of this city, we are sorry. We hope you will find it within you to forgive us."

"Well, it looks like you and your clan are off the hook. Congratulations," said Estevan.

"Thank you very much; not just for what you said. But also for being partially responsible for the truth coming out," said Hudson.

Estevan's expression changed to confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, if we hadn't of been out looking for you because of your break in, we wouldn't have found you in Central Park being cornered by those werewolves. Sure, we probably would have discovered there existence eventually, but your little attempt against us most likely sped up that process," said Hudson.

Estevan was quiet for a second, not sure of how to respond.

"Oh... Um... Thanks. ...Sorry about the whole...breaking into your home and trying to kill you...thing."

There was a moment of awkward silence that while only lasting two to three minutes, seemed to go on for an eternity. Neither Estevan or Hudson were really sure of how to proceed with the evening. However, Hudson ended up being the one to break the silence.

"Let me ask you something, lad. Have you been trained to fight?"

Estevan wasn't expecting the question.

"Of course, I'm trained to fight. I wouldn't of attempted... You know, that break in thing if I didn't know how to fight. Why do you ask?" said Estevan.

"Well...the night of our...conflict, you didn't seem to be much of a fighter. You didn't really put up much of an assault against those wolf beasts during the fight in the park," Hudson explained.

Estevan looked away, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Well- Uh- I- Uh... I guess I just let my emotions get the best of me," said Estevan.

"It's not a good thing for a warrior to let his emotions control him instead of him controlling his emotions. It can be very costly in a battle. Especially against viscous beasts like those werewolves. It can lead to everlasting consequences and repercussions," said Hudson.

"Yeah? Like what?" asked Estevan.

"Well, for example, long lasting, or even permanent injuries and possibly death," Hudson explained.

Estevan thought about that for a moment. Looking back to that nigh, there were several times where Estevan could've lost his life. Both during his confrontation with the gargoyle clan and his chase by the werewolf pack.

"I guess I've never really been good at controlling my emotions," said Estevan.

"Well, I guess you'll just have to learn how to control them then," said Hudson.

"Could... Could you teach me?" asked Estevan.

Hudson looked back to Estevan with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I could at least try. We've got a week to spend together; might as well use it for something constructive," said Hudson.

"So is that a yes?" Estevan inquired.

"Yes, indeed, lad. I'll do my best to teach you how to control your emotions. But let's get started tomorrow night. For now, let's relax; get to know each other and enjoy sitting around the TV. Do you have a specific program you usually watch or like watching on occasions?"

"Oh, um...I don't really watch TV. The life I chose to live didn't really allow for a lot of television time."

"Well, there's always a time to start. Here..."

Hudson flipped through a few channels before stopping on one that seemed like it was about to start a cartoon.

"Ah, there we are. A young one's program; to help you get started."

"Hey, I may be young; but I'm not a kid. And this is a little kid's sho..."

Estevan's voice trailed off when he actually looked at the TV to see what was going on in the program. The scenario was of two anthropomorphic animals; a mouse, and a duck who were pacing around in a circle and occasionally looking up at their calendar which had, 'RENT 6 MONTHS OVER DUE' written on it in red ink. This was followed by their door bell ringing, followed by hard and loud pounding coming from the outside the front door. The mouse and duck cowered in fear, trying to hide.

But after hearing a big, booming voice on the other side of the door telling them to open up, the mouse ends up complying. The voice was revealed to have belonged to a huge, overweight anthropomorphic dog who was the sheriff. He told the mouse and duck that because they were six months overdue, he was gonna evict them and sell their furniture, given the authority to do so with a 'Notice to Dispossess'. Eventually a smaller dog who was originally just delivering ice is roped into the situation, helping the mouse and duck move their stuff out of their house and into the back of his ice truck. As they try to get their stuff out of the house before the sheriff comes back, the three characters run into several obstacles and get into difficult situations.

And Estevan found these antics to be...entertaining, funny, hilarious even. Within minutes, Estevan was laughing hysterically. Hudson too found the events in the cartoon to be amusing; but only mildly. Estevan especially enjoyed the two segments of the cartoon. One was where the dog character had to fight with a piano that through the magic of animation took on the freedom of a sentient being. The piano chose to use that freedom to not let itself be put in the back of the dog's truck, like the dog was trying to do. The other segment was where the duck got a toilet plunger stuck to his rear end. He tried to get it off, but that proved to be more difficult than it seemed. Estevan would view many more of these kinds of cartoons, along with several other programs on television over the next week.

That is, when Hudson wasn't teaching him how to control his anger. A lot of these lessons involved learning breathing techniques, as well as meditation, exercise, keeping a record of things that had made him angry, and finally; Hudson taught Estevan what he considered the best anger management. And that was going to a friend for moral support and comfort. A role both Hudson and Bronx filled for that week. It wasn't easy at first, for the voice was still trying to make Estevan hold onto his dark past of anger, resentment, and gargoyle prejudice.

Yes, for the first few nights, the voice's presence was very much felt by Estevan. He felt it trying to make him do things he didn't want to, or say things he didn't want to. The thing this voice that represented Estevan's dark past tried to get him to do the most was slam the room lamp into the back of Hudson's head when he sat down to watch TV. But Estevan fought through the agony the voice brought on his psyche. And as the week went on, and with the new skills he had to keep his emotions in check, Estevan found that it became easier and easier to control that side of him and the voice's presence got weaker and weaker. That is...while he was awake.

* * *

**I don't really have a whole lot to say about this chapter, except the usual: Be sure to leave a review after reading this chapter, and be sure to let me know if there's a spelling or grammar error that I missed. Oh, and twelve thousand points to whoever knows which cartoon Estevan and Hudson were watching, based on my descriptions in this chapter. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off. **


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